


Summer Skin

by DragonSilk



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Angst, Boss/Employee Relationship, Drama, Dubious Consent, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Not a healthy relationship, Power Imbalance, Reader is a chauffeur., Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:58:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6354265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSilk/pseuds/DragonSilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I knew your heart I could not win,<br/>'cause the season's change was a conduit,<br/>and we'd left our love in our summer skin."</p><p> </p><p>A tale in which Kaiba is a terrible boss and you are just his temporary chauffeur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. She's Perfectly Disguised

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually one of my more popular stories on a different site. I've avoided posting it here for the longest time because this story kind of got away from me.
> 
> With this story, I wanted to play with the idea that Kaiba has the potential to be a truly terrible boyfriend. Not that I think he would be but that it is a possibility, especially if you work for him. But then people enjoyed this story and I felt bad knowing it was such a terrible relationship.
> 
> So I've decided I'm going to edit this story very heavily. The ending will stay the same, but the journey may evolve very differently. So if you've read this elsewhere, please come along for the ride. After a few chapters you may notice some big changes. Please know I am still playing with terrible boyfriend Kaiba. If you hate it, I'll understand. I'm honestly quite hesitant to post it here.
> 
> The first chapter starts with lyrics from "Artist and Repertoire" by Envy on the Coast. I don't own this song or any other song featured in this story. Nor do I own YGO.

__

Armed with nothing but a dotted line and big blue eyes. 

__

Ominous, so ominous of surprise.

The sun beat down, warming you on the already hot day, and you cursed the stupid slacks that you had to wear as part of your uniform. Normally it didn't matter that you had to wear black pants because you got to sit in an air-conditioned car all day. Today was an exception. You had to pick up your newest client from the airport, which meant that you had to stand outside in the pick-up zone and hold up a large sign so that your client could find you.

You briefly fanned yourself with the sign as you leaned against your car. Technically, it wasn't legal for you to park your car in front of the pick up zone for LAX's international terminal, but there was a nice little area for taxis, and since that was kind of what you were, albeit a private one, you always waited there.

This was an important job for you. The last businessman had requested a different driver simply because he felt uncomfortable with a woman driving him around (more like he didn't think women should drive period, sexist jerk). After that, your boss had let you know that the company was considering letting you go. Which was completely unfair since you were easily one of their best drivers, even if you were one of the youngest. You didn't have any accidents or tickets on your record, you'd been driving around L.A. since you were sixteen, and you never got lost. Unfortunately, your company served a lot of businessman from out of the country. Your job was to drive them around L.A. while they were here for business, but sometimes those men were sexist and didn't like a woman in the driver's seat.

You needed this Japanese businessman to keep you. From the way they talked about him, telling you to do anything he asked, he seemed important. Maybe if he gave you a good review, they would stop thinking about letting you go. It would be even better if he requested you as his driver every time he was in L.A. Some of your fellow drivers had regular customers, but you did not. It was another factor that worked against you.

You held the sign up above your head and wondered where your new client was. His flight should have landed about half an hour ago, giving him plenty of time to get off and grab his bags. Unless of course, the bags weren't getting sent out quickly enough. In that case, he might still be waiting for his bags. You hoped that this wasn't the case. It made your job difficult if your clients were frustrated and angry before they even met you for the first time.

Then you noticed someone approaching you. At least, you were fairly sure he was approaching you since he seemed to be walking directly toward you. At first, you thought that he was your new client, but once you really looked at him, you didn't think that was possible. He was very young, much too young to be an important man in the business world. He came to a stop right in front of you, and you stared up into his blue eyes, half expecting him to ask for directions. Then you realized that, if he was your businessman, staring into his eyes like this was very rude. You glanced away.

“Mr. Kaiba?” you tentatively asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh! Welcome to L.A. I'll be your driver for the duration of your stay.” You gave him your name and quickly opened the backseat door for him. “Let me get your bags.” You reached for his bags.

He let you take his bags and got into the car without a word. You grinned. He hadn't put up a fight or tried to insist that you let him get his own bags. That was a good sign. It meant he didn't have a problem with a woman getting his bags, opening his doors, or driving him around. You put his bags into the trunk before getting into the car.

“Straight to your hotel?” you asked.

“Yes.”

You looked back at him in your rearview mirror and noted that he already had his laptop out. Since he was working, you decided that you should shut up and just drive in silence. Sometimes your clients liked to talk to you, but you could already tell this guy was the silent and serious type. Mr. Kaiba was not looking for a friend, which was disappointing. He was delicious to look at. You glanced at him again in the rearview mirror. It was a shame that someone that attractive didn't want to talk to you. Driving him around would have been more enjoyable if he were social.

Not that you would ever get involved with a client. No, that was against the rules. So maybe his antisocial nature was for the best. It would keep you from being tempted to start some sort of relationship with him.


	2. He Can't Hear It Killing Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a doctor's appointment this morning (routine check-up etc.) and took the day off of work for it. Since I have the day off, I decided to work on this chapter. I rewrote about a third of it. I needed to keep it so that it still led into the next chapter, but I didn't like any of the middle bit. I'm still a little on the fence about it, but please tell me what you think. 
> 
> Lyrics from "Killing Time" by She Wants Revenge. 
> 
> Enjoy~

  
_It started in whisper,_  
_came in when she had her man,_  
_swept her away fast_  
_and said, "There's been a change of plans."_  


Mr. Kaiba stubbornly stood in front of you. You held the car door open for him, and he refused to enter your car. He had some sort of issue that he was tossing a tantrum over. You just wanted him to get into the car so you could take him back to his hotel room. His problems meant nothing to you right now. Today was Friday, it was almost time for you to clock out for the day, and you wanted to get home on time so you could get ready to go out with your friends later. All of those facts combined to keep you from giving a single damn about Kaiba’s issue.

The chances of clocking out on time were starting to look slim, and as you watched the time tick away, your anger grew. Even though you'd only been driving him around for a week, you already knew that he didn't give a damn about whether or not you actually got off of work on time and wouldn't get into the car until he said whatever he wanted to say. Self-absorbed jackass.

He finally spoke. “I'm attending a party tomorrow night.”

Wonderful. He couldn't have given you more notice? “What time?”

“It starts at eight.”

“I won’t be able to drive you. Would you like me to find you an alternate driver for the party?” Inwardly, you cursed him. Finding someone to do this at the last minute was going to be difficult. Perhaps you could get Greg to cover it–

“No. You will drive me.”

Your train of thought stopped dead, and you stared at him blankly. “Sir, I don’t work weekends. I'm off-duty, but I can find someone else to drive you around for the night.”

“I'm willing to pay you double time.”

“I have plans, sir.”

“Cancel or reschedule. It doesn't matter to me. You will drive me to the party tomorrow.”

He got into the backseat of the car, effectively ending the conversation and leaving you to wonder how you were going to get out of this. You didn't want him to complain because you knew that no matter how irrational his request was, your boss would take his side. You got into the driver's seat and glared at him through the rear-view mirror. He was already ignoring you in favor of reading. Jerk.

You sighed, counted to ten, and got back into character. “Is there anywhere you'd like to go before I take you back to the hotel?” _Please say no. I want to go home._

“Coffee.”

“Of course, sir.” You hated him so much. So very much.

\-----

The next night found you sitting outside a hotel in your car, waiting for Mr. Kaiba to get out of his stupid business party. You tried so hard to get out of it, but Kaiba forced you into a corner. When you tried to tell him who his alternate driver would be, he flat out told you that you would be fired if you didn't show up to take him to the party. Of course he didn't directly have that ability, but he was important enough that a bad review from him would screw you over. You needed him too much.

You were bitter--so very bitter--and angry. Mr. Kaiba’s stubborn attitude caused the guy you were interested in to basically write you off. When you told him you couldn't make your date tonight because of work, he assumed that you were blowing him off and told you to just forget about it.

Why wouldn't Kaiba let you arrange for an alternate driver for the night? What was so wrong with having someone else drive him to the party? It wasn't like you talked to him ever, so he wasn't keeping you around for your fabulous conversation. You growled and felt the urge to kick and hit something, someone, anything at all.

You glared at the door to the hotel. Mr. Kaiba had paged you quite some time ago. He SHOULD have been out of the party by now. This was just another thing to add to the list of why you hated him. He was inconsiderate and didn't care if he wasted your time.

You finally saw his tall frame exit the hotel, and you narrowed your eyes at him. There was a woman hanging off his arm, and she kept stopping to whisper in his ear. Couldn’t he hurry it up already? 

As he approached, you got out of the car and walked around to open his door. He smirked at you as he stopped short of the car. You raised an eyebrow. “Ready to leave, Mr. Kaiba?” 

“Oh, of course he is.” The woman next to him pressed her body against his. “I’ll be going with him.” 

You shrugged. It was all the same to you. You just wanted to drop them off and go home. 

Kaiba frowned and pushed the woman away from him. “I no longer require your services,” he informed her. 

She protested, asking what had happened, but he ignored her and got into the car. Not wanting to waste time with a scene, you shut the door and ran around to the driver’s side. Then you pulled away, leaving the woman yelling on the curb. 

You looked into your rear-view mirror, spying on your passenger. He looked angry. You were curious about his sudden decision to push the woman away, but ultimately, it was better for you. Clients who groped in the backseat were gross. 

You pulled your car in front of his hotel and put it in park. Then you walked around to open the door for him. “Good night, Mr. Kaiba,” you said, and what you really meant was, ‘Get out now, Mr. Jackass.’

He got out of the backseat, but stood in the way so you were unable to close the door. “I think you should park your car and come upstairs with me.” 

“Excuse me?” Was he asking you what you thought? No way. There was no way. 

He leaned forward. “I know you want me.” That was when you caught a whiff of alcohol. Someone had been drinking a little too much. No wonder he was propositioning you. 

“I think you should go upstairs alone, sir.” _I hope you have a nasty hangover tomorrow._

He reached out for you, and you dodged his hand. As you backed away from him, he stepped toward you. Once he was out of the way of the car door, you pushed the back door shut and darted around the car for the driver’s seat. 

He was too drunk to even catch on to what you were doing. By the time he realized what was going on, you were in the car and pulling away. 

You felt sure that he was sober enough to get up to his room, but just in case, you called the hotel and asked the front desk to make sure he made it. You hoped he wouldn’t remember any of this tomorrow, but either way, if he didn’t wake up in his own room, he would know who to blame. 

He was a jackass and easily one of your worst clients, but you still wanted a good review.

\----- 

Sunday was your favorite day of the week. Lovely, lovely Sunday. It was your only day off this weekend thanks to Kaiba’s selfishness, and you were happily spending it at the beach. Your favorite book, an umbrella, and the cool ocean breeze were all you needed to try to forget about the frustration your client caused.

Needless to say, you were still angry about yesterday, and all that anger was magnifying everything irritating that Kaiba had done all week. It kept you from being concerned that he might remember the incident at the end of the night. The fact that he couldn't be bothered to make up a schedule for you, the way he expected you to be there almost instantly when he paged you (even despite the complete lack of a schedule), how he kept you past your contracted hours every single day this week, and most important, the fact that your boss didn't even care. You'd talked to him on the phone about Saturday, and he basically informed you that you had to do whatever Mr. Kaiba told you to, even if it wasn't required by your contract.

On the upside, you were at least getting paid overtime. It would probably be a fortune in overtime by the end of your two month contract. Assuming that you didn't snap before then of course. Two months were a long time to deal with a guy who could drive you crazy after a week.

Trying to ignore your thoughts, you threw yourself into reading the book you'd brought.

Later, you woke up mildly disoriented and not sure what that strange noise was. The moment you realized that was your work phone rousing you from your sleep, you dumped out your bag trying to find the stupid thing. You somehow managed to locate and answer it before the ringtone ended.

“Where are you. I paged you nearly 30 minutes ago!”

You didn't respond for a moment, too busy trying to figure out who that angry growl belonged to and why they were expecting you. It clicked, and you had to bite your tongue before you said anything indecent to him.

Breathe in deep. Slow release.

“Sir, today is my day off. I neither have my beeper on me nor do I have access to a car at the moment.” It was not a total lie. You took the bus to the beach so you wouldn't have to deal with parking. “If you want me to drive you somewhere now, it would take me at least two hours to pick you up.” Okay, that bit might have been an exaggeration. “However if you call in our offices and request a temp for the day, I'm sure they could have someone there in less than fifteen minutes.” Maybe.

Click. You looked down at the phone, and sure enough, he'd hung up on you. Asshole. It took all your willpower to not throw your phone into the ocean.

You packed up your things. The beach has been ruined for you. It was time to spend some of that overtime so you could focus on the only good that was coming out of this situation. 

On Monday, you returned to Kaiba's hotel and your hellish job working for him. You braced yourself for his anger as he came out of the hotel, and you opened the door for him.

“The driver I had yesterday wouldn't shut up.”

You stared at him in shock as he stood before you. The glare on his face stated that you were somehow at fault. You expected hostility, but you thought it would be different. He seemed like the type to be petulantly silent. It took a moment, but you eventually realized that he was holding out a piece of paper for you.

“What's this?”

“Your schedule. These are places I expect you to be and the times I expect you to be at them. After dropping me off somewhere, you are still on call, and I expect you to be able to pick me up within ten minutes. If you have any problems with it, deal with them yourself.”

You looked down at the paper as he got into the car. Well, at least you finally had a schedule, but did he really have to be such an ass about it? You tried to study it so that you could object to any days that you shouldn't be working, except... you couldn't read the sloppy scrawl.

You got into the driver's seat and shoved the schedule back at him. “This is illegible.”

He snatched it from your hand, and part of it might have ripped in the process. “I'll type it up and send it to you. Would you like me to make sure to use a large font?”

“Yeah could you?” He'd been asking that either sarcastically or scathingly, from him they were about the same, but you ignored that and grinned at him. “Shall I give you my email now or later?”

He simply glared. Your grin widened. Taunting him like this would surely lose cost you later, but you couldn't help yourself. Besides, you still had more than a month to ensure that he still gave you a good review.

“Just drive,” he finally snapped.

Aha. Victory was sweet.

Later that night, you checked your email and found a typed schedule in your inbox. When you opened the file, your printer spit the schedule out without being asked, and then your screen turned black. Any attempts to start your computer back up were met with failure.

You knew exactly who to blame. “That arrogant son of a bitch!”


	3. Get You Where You Wanna Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is short. It was longer but I didn't like the way it flowed and broke it up into two parts.
> 
> Lyrics are from "Shut Up and Drive" by Rihanna. 
> 
> Enjoy~

  
_Baby you got the keys,_  
_just shut up and drive_.

\-----

Holding your laptop close to your body like it was an injured animal, you stormed through Kaiba's hotel. The staff of the hotel knew you and let you enter the hotel without a word. After all, clients did sometimes ask to be driven out late at night. It was unreasonable to expect you to take them out for Chinese in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t unusual. Of course that wasn't why you were making your way to his room. 

Oh no, you weren’t here for work. You were going to kill him. Or beat him over the head with your (now) useless laptop until he fixed it. Upon reaching the door to his room, you pretended that it was his face you were hitting as your fist slammed against the wood. 

The door flew open, and he was suddenly towering over you with narrowed blue eyes. 

“What?!” he snapped, clearly annoyed by your interruption. 

You reflexively stepped back from the force of his anger before recalling that you were the wronged party. Nervously rocking on the balls of your feet, you regained your nerve. “Fix it,” you demanded, holding out your laptop. 

“I'm busy.” He started to close the door. 

You used your body to keep the door open. “I need it fixed.” Backing down was not an option. Kaiba’s anger may have deflated your rage, but you were not going to let him get away with breaking your computer. 

He growled and opened the door, stepping aside. “Go sit somewhere. You'll have to wait.” 

You were still willing to argue but arguing in the hallway seemed like a bad idea. So you marched into his room without another word. Glancing around, you noted how large the room was, and the entry room was just one room in Kaiba’s suite! There was a full sized couch facing a TV that was so big that you wondered how it stayed attached to the wall. Near that was a large desk with a laptop and papers sitting on the surface. Kaiba had closed the door while you'd been studying your surroundings, and now he was sitting down at the desk. 

“Hey! My computer?” He couldn’t just go back to work without fixing your laptop! 

He barely even glanced your way as he picked up a headset and placed one of the earbuds into his ear. “I told you to wait.” Then he picked up a cellphone and pressed a few buttons. “Ok, continue.” A pause. “No, it wasn't anything important.” 

Then he was listening to whoever was on the other line and typing on his keyboard. Great, you'd interrupted a business call of some sort. That made you feel a little bit rude. If Kaiba was doing work, then you should probably let him finish what he needed to do. So you sat down on the unused couch while you waited for him to finish up. 

Maybe ten minutes later, you got bored and grabbed the remote. The moment you pressed the power button, the TV blared to life, and you frantically searched for the mute button. After finding it, your eyes guiltily shifted over to Kaiba but snapped away the moment you realized he was glaring at you. Well, at least he remembered that you were still sitting there. 

\-----

Someone was shaking you, and all you wanted was to keep sleeping. You swatted at the hand that was shaking you. Whoever it was could just go away. 

Then you found yourself unceremoniously pushed onto the floor. 

“OWWWWW! WHAT THE HELL?!” you shouted, looking around for whoever had just shoved you. Looking up, you saw your new boss standing over you and glaring down at you, and you remembered where you were as well as what you were supposed to be doing. An apology seemed to be in order, but you couldn't find the right words. You stood up awkwardly, trying to figure out what to say to him. 

He grabbed you by your elbow and jerked your body toward his own. He leaned toward you, his face inches from your own, his eyes glaring holes into you. 

“I don't know what you were thinking today, but in the future, you will not speak to me like that. You will maintain a respectful tone, or you will not speak at all. I refuse to listen to demands from my _employees_. Do you understand?” 

You nodded, unaccustomed to being handled this way. Actually, now that you were thinking clearly, you shouldn't have even gone into his hotel room like you had. Suddenly nervous, you squirmed in his grip, trying to get free. 

“Good.” He shoved your laptop into your arms and pushed into the hall. 

Oh, the laptop. “Wait—” 

“I fixed it. Now leave.” Then he slammed the door in your face. 

The next day you did exactly what he'd asked. When you picked him up from his hotel, you opened the door in silence, choosing to not give him his typical greeting. You didn't even ask if he wanted to stop for coffee. If he did, you were sure that he would tell you. When you dropped him off, you didn't wish him a good day. 

Kaiba noticed this change, and while he felt a small stir of unease, he was also quite pleased. He'd told you to shut up, and you'd stopped your useless chatter. He hoped that this wasn't a temporary thing and that you weren't simply giving him the silent treatment. He liked obedience in his subordinates. 

True to form, you continued to be silent when you picked him up. To an extent, your complete silence was related to anger. You were irritated with him for the way that he'd handled you, so it was easy to ignore him. At the same time, you were also respecting the wishes of your client. If he wanted silence, then that's what he would get. Even after you got past his rude behavior, you had every intention of not speaking to him unless required. 

Kaiba was eventually the first one to break the silence.


	4. Make Your Best Wishes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this one almost right after the last one to apologize for how short they are. Please forgive me!
> 
> Lyrics from "Let The Little Lady Talk" by Capital Lights

  
_Paralyzing, from the waist down,_  
_I've caught the wind from the fits you threw,_  
_I've got nothing left now but to let it go,_  
_I'll let it go._  
\-----  


“I'm sorry. You want me to go find something for you to bring back to your brother?” You stared at your boss in disbelief. He had just tried to hand you money while telling you to go shopping for him. Sure you were on the clock all day. Sure you could go shopping. 

Except you had no clue what kinds of things his brother would like. If the brother was anything like Mr. Kaiba, then there wasn't a thing in the world that you could think to buy. 

“He'll throw a fit if I forget to bring him something again, and I don't have time to go shopping myself.” He shoved the money back in your face. 

“No.” You pushed the money back toward him. “I have no clue what your brother is like. I wouldn't know what to buy him at all. I have to respectfully suggest that you go shopping on the weekend, sir.” Okay, maybe that didn't sound so respectful. You couldn't help it. 

There was a silent standoff between the two of you. You stubbornly met his glare, completely forgetting that you weren't supposed to look him directly in the eyes. 

“Fine. You will be my escort this Sunday.” 

What part of 'weekends off' did this man not understand? Didn't he get that you weren't going to be at his beck and call 24/7? 

“I regret to inform you, sir, that I have Sunday off.” Okay, you really needed to tone down your snarky undertones. You were more of a professional than this. 

He chuckled. Well, it was something close to a chuckle but far more sinister. “Not anymore.” 

Ugh, he was so frustrating. You swore that you were going to try to hit him with your car one of these days. You didn't even bother agreeing or disagreeing with him at this point. He assumed you would agree, and honestly you weren't in a position where you could disagree.


	5. Raise Your Chin & Raise A Glass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do like trenches, but Kaiba's trench with the super padded shoulders would probably be ridiculous in real life. (Sadly, my boyfriend feels that only perverts wear trenches. T_T)
> 
> Lyrics from "Shine Your Cadillac" by Evans Blue.

  
_Sing here's to winning this again and again._  
_Sing, I don't care what it costs._  


You broke down laughing the moment you saw Mr. Kaiba that weekend. You knew it was rude. You knew he'd get irritated at best. You knew it was unprofessional. 

He was so ridiculously dressed that you couldn't stop yourself. The moment he emerged from his hotel in a ridiculous looking trench with padded shoulders (and long sleeves!) you started to laugh. Of course he didn't patiently wait for you to calm down before he demanded that you tell him what your problem was. 

You tried to stop laughing, you really really did. “It's just,” laughter, “what are you wearing?” More giggles. “And long sleeves? You're going to die in the heat.” You'd managed to get a handle on yourself at this point. You were no longer laughing, but you couldn't make the grin on your face disappear. 

He was clearly not amused. In fact, he looked a little murderous. “Then what do you suggest I wear?” 

This was a dangerous moment. You could tell that giving the wrong answer to that question would lead to a great deal of suffering. It was definitely a trick question. 

“Something... casual?” 

“This IS casual!” Crap, you'd given the wrong answer. You really wished that you had something to hide behind at this point in time. 

“Just jeans and a t-shirt should be fine.” Really. California was incredibly laid back and he'd fit right in if he just threw some normal clothes on. His current ridiculous outfit would just get him a lot of stares. Especially in the areas you were planning on taking him to. If he'd been planning on going into Hollywood or Santa Monica or Venice it would be one thing. There were all sorts of people in Hollywood as well as tourists all over the place, he'd be fine; Santa Monica already had weirdos, like that guy in the Spiderman costume, so Kaiba would be normal by comparison; and people in Venice were simply too stoned to care. However, you doubted he'd enjoy shopping at any of those places and he wouldn't find anything his presumably spoiled brother would like. 

“Park your car. You're coming up to pick out my clothes.” It was an order, not a request, but he wasn't the first person who'd asked for your advice before. You parked your car and went straight up to his room. After he'd opened his closet, you were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of suits that he'd brought with him. Then there were a handful of black pants, black long sleeved shirts, and trenches. 

“Don't you wear anything else?” you asked before you could stop yourself. 

“No.” 

Well, shit. This was going to be harder than you thought. “You could take the trench thing off and push your sleeves up I guess, but you'll still be kind of hot in this heat. We don't have indoor shopping centers here. You'll be outside while we walk from shop to shop.” 

“The point of having a driver is so that I don't have to walk anywhere.” 

You looked at him like he was an idiot. It was rude but man was he surprising you today. “You've never gone shopping here have you.” It wasn't a question. You knew the answer. “It's simply faster to walk from store to store instead of driving. Too much traffic and not enough parking. They're all close together, and I will be there to carry your bags if you'd like.” It was part of your job description, not that you usually had to fulfill it. 

He was not happy. His swearing made that very clear. You waited for him to stop before you asked him if he'd like to cancel the shopping. 

“No,” he snapped at you before pulling out his cell. He pressed a button and held it to his ear. Then he was talking in some other language. Probably Japanese but you really didn't know enough to be able to tell for sure. 

Then he was handing you the phone. “I have no clue what the fuck he wants. Figure it out.” 

You took the phone, frustrated that this man was constantly demanding things from you. He should be paying you to be his personal assistant at this point. You did your best to keep your frustration from showing in your voice. “Hello?” You really really hoped that whoever it was spoke English. 

“Hi?” The voice was shy, and sounded fairly young. “Ano, do you know...” He paused, clearly uncertain with his words, and you thought that he was probably just a cute little kid. “Skittles?” You couldn't stop the grin that spread across your face. The way he'd pronounced that was utterly adorable. 

“Of course.” You chose your words slowly and carefully. “Candy. It's easy to buy.” 

“Yes!” He was excited. “Thank you!” 

“You're welcome.” You gave the phone back to Kaiba. He took it from you and spent another minute talking before hanging up. 

“Was that your brother?” You knew that personal questions were usually off the table, but you were curious. It sounded like they weren't very similar. The boy on the phone had spoken with an accent and had been very insecure sounding. Kaiba spoke with barely any accent and was confident to the point of being cocky. 

“Yes, what did he want?” 

Your grin widened. “He wants candy. Skittles are an American candy. You can buy them at any store, heck you could probably get them at the gift store in the lobby.” You almost wanted to leave it at that, but Kaiba's brother had sounded so cute that you wanted him to get more than just Skittles. “If you want, I can drive you to a candy store and help you pick out even more stuff that he'd probably like?” 

Yes, you really wanted a day off, and yes, you were completely sick of Kaiba, but his brother had sounded so cute. Someone cute, with a big brother like Kaiba, deserved a TON of candy. 

Kaiba was clearly surprised by your change of heart. You hadn't volunteered to help him out with anything at all since the first few days. He was probably aware of how sick of him you were, and with an attitude like his, he was probably used to people being sick of him. 

“That sounds appropriate,” he finally said. You took it to mean, 'thank you for being awesome,' and drove him to one of the biggest candy stores you knew. 

\-----

Seeing a serious man like Kaiba in the candy store was an interesting experience. The store was bright and colorful, full of sparkly, childish items. He was dressed in black pants and a black shirt (you'd managed to convince him to take the trench off). On top of that, he was frowning at everyone and everything in the store. 

“You're scaring the children,” you commented as you led him to the section of the store dedicated to Skittles. He didn't respond, but you were fairly sure that he was thinking something along the lines of, 'screw the children.' He was predictably self-centered like that. 

“So, they have the regular kind of Skittles, the fizzled fruits kind, those are new, tropical, wild berry, sour, and crazy cores.” You pointed to each type as you read their names. 

“Pick up five of each.” 

You reached out for the bags, intent on counting out five, when he yelled at you. “Five BOXES!” Your eyes went wide. Was he serious? You did as he asked anyway. 

Then you helped him pick out other types of candy that his little brother might like. At that point, the store's staff realized that your employer was going to be spending a small fortune and had begun to help out. Which was good because there was no way you would have been able to carry all that candy back to the car by yourself. 

Then Kaiba had you take him somewhere so he could ship all that candy to his brother. You found an out of the way UPS store with a parking lot and parked right in front of the entrance. Inside the store you asked the workers to help unload all the candy from your trunk while Kaiba told one of the employees that he wanted the pounds of candy shipped to Japan. You were sure that they would have laughed at him if he hadn't looked like the type of person who might have killed them for it. 

You simply stood in the doorway and oversaw the workers that were unloading everything. You were surprised when, halfway through the process, Kaiba yelled at one of the guys. 

“You!” He was pointing at the guy. “Put five boxes of that,” he pointed at a pile of candy, “back into the car. It's not getting shipped.” You thought that it was weird, Kaiba didn't seem like a candy sort of person to you, but you didn't bring it up until you'd brought him back to his hotel. 

As you opened the car door for him, you asked him if he wanted you to carry the remaining five boxes of candy up to his room. 

“You said that was your favorite kind.” He was looking at you intently, and you weren't entirely sure what he meant by that statement. He almost seemed to be waiting for an answer. Had it been a question? 

“Yes, they are.” 

Apparently that was what he wanted to hear. “Good. They're yours.” He was walking into the hotel, and he made it all the way too the doors before you realized what he'd said. 

He was giving you five, FIVE, boxes of your absolute favorite candy in the world. 

“THANK YOU SIR!” you yelled at him, unable to keep your excitement in. That was enough candy to last you a _year_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The stuff about the Skittles, I did research for. Those are all the kinds currently advertised on the website (as of the year this fic was written, so it's possibly dated by now) and they don't sell Skittles in Japan. =)
> 
> This chapter had a kind of, tone shift of sorts, so it was really difficult for me to find a song to use in the opening lyrics.


	6. I Don't Wanna Fall In Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been so busy lately. I spent a lot of time out of my house this weekend so... The weekend coming up should be slow though. :)
> 
> Original author notes:  
> It's so nice to get back to writing. I've been so busy this week I couldn't even let myself work on anything.  
> But the week was pretty inspiring for this chapter. Some movie was filming on UCLA's campus and my best friend ranted and raved for hours about how they were blocking off her path to her Bio lecture. (They do that pretty frequently actually.)

  
_I would like to tell you,_  
_I would like to say,_  
_that I knew that this would happen,_  
_that things would go this way,_  
_but I cannot deceive you._  
_This was never planned._  


Of course now that you were home, you were incredibly confused by the boxes of candy. You'd carted all of them up to your apartment, intent on figuring out how you were going to keep yourself from eating all of the candy at once and making yourself incredibly sick. 

Though they presented a bigger problem than that. You couldn't help but like your boss now, just a little, and you didn't want to like him, not even a little. He'd been a complete jackass before this, and he was probably going to resume treating you like dirt. Why'd he have to ruin your dislike by giving you something? 

Which was suspicious actually. Why had he decided to give you candy? Was it because you'd been so helpful and he basically hadn't had to lift a finger? Either way, you were sure that it wouldn't change anything. It would just make him more difficult to hate because you'd be eating the candy that he gave you while he forced you to work overtime. 

Perhaps you should give it back to him? 

That thought was quickly tossed away. It was your **favorite** candy. You weren't going to waste it like that. You'd keep it and eat it all! But perhaps you should stick some of it in the freezer or something... Not that there was much room in your freezer. It wasn't a big freezer to begin with and it already had ice cream inside. You shoved as much of the candy in there as you could without completely stuffing it and making the ice cream impossible to remove. 

\-----

The next day, you completely forgot that you weren't actually on speaking terms with your boss, and you greeted him with a grin. You'd already had a bunch of the candy for breakfast at that point. 

He didn't respond, and your mood deflated a little bit as you were reminded of his disposition. The fact that he'd given you candy didn't mean he wanted to talk to you at all. Which was difficult for you to understand. Usually after the first week, all of your clients started talking to you. Even the ones that didn't like you. They all just got lonely away from home and needed someone to listen to them. 

Not Mr. Kaiba. Two weeks in and absolutely no sign of loneliness. You had no clue how he was managing that. 

“GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!” you abruptly swore, completely forgetting your professional composure. 

“What?!” he snapped at you, and you remembered that you weren't supposed to speak that way. 

“I'm so sorry, sir!” You were as apologetic as possible despite trying to merge and get where you needed to go. 

“Not that.” He scoffed and you were glad that he wasn't offended at your language. “What are you swearing about? Am I going to be late?” He sounded more irritated than concerned, and you hoped that he would understand. 

“I'm going to do my best not to let that happen, sir, but the street is blocked off. It looks like they're doing filming, but I'm going to get us around that as quickly as possible!” _Stupid, self-centered Hollywood._ You hated that they never warned people before sectioning off a street. You knew it was because they didn't want too many people to swarm the set but still. It was such an inconvenience. 

“Just drive through.” 

You almost hit the brakes. You were so incredibly shocked that he would suggest that to you. You'd be in so much trouble for even attempting it. “I can't, sir. The cops would detain me for a while and you would really be late.” 

“Just let me handle it.” 

“Mr. Kaiba.” You paused. How could you say this diplomatically? “You might be a big shot in Japan, but here nobody cares about you. Please don't be offended.” 

He was silent for the rest of the trip. When you opened the door for him at the office building, he looked pensive and you wondered what he was thinking about. At least you'd managed to get him to his meetings on time with your awesome driving skills.

If only he would appreciate it.


	7. I Don't Care For Your Sweet Scent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics used are from "History" by Funeral for a Friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a longer chapter. :) Please enjoy!

_So you want to hold me up_  
_and bring me down?_  
_Yes you want to hold me up_  
_and break me down_.  
\-----

“We're going to a bar tonight.” 

“Excuse me?” You didn't like the sound of that 'we'. He never said, 'we,' it was always just, 'Take me there,' or, 'I'm going there.' 

“I am going to a bar, you will be my escort. Do I need to spell it out for you?” 

“Are you asking me out?” You hoped that he wasn't. It would make life very awkward. Sure he was attractive, but he was a jerk and your boss. It wasn't like you could say yes to him. 

“No.” 

You wondered if he even realized that he was such a vague person. “I'm off in an hour.” 

“Not anymore, but you may go home and change.” 

You really hated how he pushed you around. It was like he'd didn't know the meaning of the word no. Besides, what was with the sudden desire to go out? He hadn't gone anywhere unrelated to work since he'd gotten to L.A. 

“I can't drink while I'm working. It's against company policy and illegal.” So there. He couldn't drag you anywhere. 

“Then drink water.” 

He was so frustrating. You pulled up to his hotel and went around to open the door for him. You made sure to cover up your scowl with a smile. “You don't really need me to drive you anywhere. I'm sure there's a bar in the hotel.” 

“Be back here in an hour.” The expression on his face told you that he was absolutely serious and completely decided on what he wanted to do. 

An hour barely gave you enough time to get down the street at 6pm though and you told him as much. He sighed, and you were pretty sure that he was thoroughly frustrated with you at the moment. Since he frustrated you every single day, it was nice to see that he was getting some payback. 

“Park and meet me upstairs.” Then he was gone. Not even letting you have the opportunity to object. Stupid, self-absorbed, businessmen. 

You dragged your feet the entire time, hoping he'd get angry at how long it was taking you and just send you home. It was worth a shot. 

By the time you'd reached his hotel room, he'd changed into a pair of black pants and a basic black shirt. 

“Is this appropriate?” he asked mockingly. 

You responded with complete honesty despite the mocking. “No.” He was clearly surprised so you elaborated, “You don't need such a long sleeved shirt. I know it's nighttime but it's still summer and it really doesn't get that cold at night. Didn't you pack anything appropriate for California?” 

He was glaring. Great, you'd offended him yet again. It was surprising that he was still dragging you everywhere instead of getting a new driver. Why would anyone want a driver who insulted them? 

“I suppose you'll have to take me shopping for appropriate clothing then.” Ooooooh, the stupid jerk was _smirking_ and you'd just figured him out. He didn't care how much overtime he had to pay you, he was making you suffer by completely controlling your life. 

You smiled at him, and you hoped your smile drove fear into his heart. You were going to take him shopping, oh yes you were, and he wasn't going to enjoy it at all. Two could play this game. 

You took him to Rodeo Drive figuring that he probably spent a small fortune on clothes. You almost took him to a crowded shopping mall because he'd hate it. Then realized that you'd have to deal with people looking at you funny since you were still in your chauffeur's uniform. At least on Rodeo nobody would care about the little chauffeur following her boss around. 

In addition to that, you could admire all the clothes that were completely out of your price range without the employees glaring at you. 

“Ok, I figure you'll know which store suits you better than I will. Where do you want to start?” The two of you were walking down the street and you honestly had no clue which store to start with. 

He looked around, and he seemed to be bored until he spotted the Gucci store.[1] Then he smirked and walked straight toward it. You followed behind him, a little bit unnerved by how pleased he seemed to be. You'd never figured him for the sort of man who knew anything about designers. 

The moment he entered the store, a well-dressed woman, whose name tag declared that her name was Christina, approached him asking if he needed help finding anything. 

“I'm looking for a jacket actually.” 

“Of course sir, it's not the season for jackets but we do have some of the fall collection in already.” Smiling she led him straight for the jackets and began to talk about the different pieces. You simply trailed behind, trying not to catch her notice. 

Then Kaiba picked something up and turned to you, holding it out. “What do you think?” he asked, but it wasn't really what he was saying. What he was really pointing out was that he'd found something very similar to the trench that you told him not to wear. Fuck. 

“Seriously? That jacket was Gucci?” 

He just smirked. 

“Well apparently I don't know anything,” you muttered. 

“You really shouldn't talk to the help about such matters.” The woman clearly wanted the attention to be back on her. “If you'd like I could help you pick out some clothes.” She was grinning and had her hand resting on his arm. 

Kaiba pulled away from her slightly and raised an eyebrow at you. Was he seriously letting you decide? You sighed. He was so difficult to figure out. 

“He needs casual clothes for going out at night. Nothing too ostentatious, Mr. Kaiba doesn't like to stand out.” You might as well let the woman do her job. She knew far more than you did and you weren't afraid to admit it. 

“Of course.” 

You had to hand it to the woman, she was efficient. She'd managed to quickly throw together outfits for your boss to look over. When you'd entered the store, you'd worried that she might have tried to flirt with Kaiba, but she was completely professional the entire time. She really was good at her job. 

Kaiba eventually picked out a few casual outfits before asking you if he had enough. You'd only been paying partial attention, but you noticed that none of the outfits had jeans. They were all just pants. 

“Don't you have any jeans?” The woman scoffed at you, but you ignored her. “Look I know jeans are boring but it's basically what everyone wears. He needs at least one pair.” 

“I don't wear jeans.” 

“Fine.” You knew when you were outvoted. “I'll just sit here in silence again.” 

“I need an outfit for her as well.” 

“Excuse me?” You weren't the only one surprised by that. The woman assisting the two of you was also staring at him in disbelief. 

“You stand out too much as my driver.” 

You really hated how he never elaborated on anything. “What's wrong with that?” 

“You'll dissuade women from approaching me if you look like my date.” 

“Aren't you cocky,” you muttered just loud enough for him hear. 

“Well, if she'll come this way, I'll have her try on some outfits for your approval.” The woman's smiling façade was back, and you were amazed, yet again, at how professional she was. 

“Nothing too warm,” you warned her, “I don't want to die in this heat.” 

She stuck you in a bunch of different outfits and forced you to parade around for Mr. Kaiba's approval. Then the jerk decided on one of the dresses that you'd tried on in the beginning. He'd known what he was going to buy for you and he'd let her continue to torture you anyway. 

You really hated him. 

He had you put the dress back on and decided that you were just going to leave the store in that dress. You thanked your lucky stars that it was summer and you'd been shaving every day. 

“Would you like to find some accessories for the outfit?” Even though you were the one standing there in the dress and heels, the woman was speaking to Kaiba. 

He looked you over, studying your white dress with black lace and your heels. You hoped he'd say no, you already felt like you were too dressed up as it was. 

“Perhaps a necklace. Have you seen anything that you like?” 

He was asking you and you hadn't looked but you didn't want a necklace. “No.” 

He probably knew you were just being difficult but he let it slide. “I suppose we're done then.” 

He paid for everything as you gathered the bags. You were definitely not going to look at how much money he was spending. You didn't want to know. Especially not since he'd bought you a dress and heels. You really didn't know what to do about that. There was no fighting him, he was stubborn as a mule, and you didn't want the dress. At least you'd gotten out of buying the jewelry. 

"Is there anywhere else you wanted to go?" You hoped the answer was no. You were already carrying a few bags and you didn't want to cart even more stuff around. 

"No. Unless you want some accessories." 

You never knew very much about your clients. The company made it their policy to disclose as little as possible to their drivers. You were thoroughly convinced that Mr. Kaiba must be a filthy rich businessman and you wondered what he did. Normal men didn't just buy expensive clothes for their employees and then ask if they wanted more. 

"I'm fine." You weren't going to take advantage of the situation. 

"You're an interesting woman." You looked over at him and discovered that he was observing you. 

"Ok." Honestly, what were you supposed to say to that? 

You both went back to the car in silence. Nothing more needed to be said. He'd changed into one of his outfits in the store as well and had you simply drive to a bar. You asked him if he wanted to go to somewhere busy and high class or somewhere a little out of the way. He surprised you by requesting somewhere busy. You really expected him to want to go somewhere out of the way. 

You obliged and took him to one of the most difficult places to get into. You warned him that he was going to have to bribe the security to get in. He didn't care. 

It was an interesting experience for you. You'd parked the car as close to the place as you could but it didn't have valet so you had to walk. He'd opted to walk with you since he needed to get you in and he was fairly sure that you would make a run for it if he wasn't there. He was wrong of course, after he had bought you that dress you wouldn't be able to make a run for it without feeling incredibly guilty. 

He had one hand resting on your lower back, as the two of you walked right up to the entrance. The security guards were, of course, unimpressed. Then your boss flashed a fifty at each of them. They let you both in right after that. 

He guided you easily through the crush of people in the club and straight to the bar. You both managed to get a bar stool, possibly due to the chill of his glares and ordered your drinks. Since you were technically still working, you ordered a water in a martini glass. It looked alcoholic but wasn't. A great trick, but usually resulted in some joking from the bartender. 

“Seto Kaiba?” 

You turned, completely shocked that someone had recognized your boss. A glance sideways told you that your boss didn't share that surprise. 

“Yes?” He voice conveyed boredom. Whoever it was, it seemed like your boss didn't know him. 

“It is you! My boss heard that you were here but he hasn't been able to get in touch with anyone to confirm that. He'd love to discuss business with you!” 

“What company are you from?” He was disinterested, and you wondered why he was even bothering. 

“Oh right! Here, I've got a business card on me.” He dug one out of his wallet and passed it to your boss, who you were fairly sure was going to throw it away the moment the man left. Then the man launched into a speech about all the things his company could do with support from Kaiba Corp. You tuned it all out and stared at your boss open mouthed. Had the man said _Kaiba Corp_.? Did your boss own his own company? 

No, it was probably his father's company, he was a bit young to own his own. Even if it was just his father's, that explained a lot. It certainly explained why he threw money around like it was nothing. He probably came from an incredibly wealthy family. He was way out of your league. 

Not that it mattered. You weren't interested in the jerk anyway. 

“Excuse me,” your **boss** (you felt that you needed to remind yourself of this fact) was interrupting the man, “I think all this business talk is boring my date.” 

“Oh right! Sorry! Call me!” Then the man walked away, and just as you'd predicted, Kaiba crumpled up the business card. 

“So nobody cares who I am?” 

He looked incredibly amused. He was really out to prove you wrong today wasn't he? 

“I guess that guy did,” you admitted reluctantly, “but trust me, nobody on that movie set would have. Hollywood types don't care about business types. I'm sure you won't be approached again tonight.” 

“Would you care to bet on that?” 

“You're on.” You'd wipe that cocky smirk off his face. Surely nobody else would care or know who he was. 

He simply smirked.  


\-----

You lost the bet. TWO more businessmen had come up to him and tried to do business. Now you really wanted to know who the heck he was and what the heck he did. How was he that well known? 

You fumed the entire time you drove him back to his hotel. He had a stupid smug smirk on his face. You were ready to pull up in front of the hotel and kick him out when he told you to park the car. 

“We have something to talk about. Come along, and don't forget my bags.” 

You grabbed all his stuff and followed him up to his room. He instructed you on where to put his bags down as he went to the little mini bar in his room. You almost told him that he could have just stayed in his room to drink but decided that that would do nothing. 

Stupid jerks that always had to prove others wrong. 

Then he offered you some wine. 

“No, I can't--” 

“You're not on the clock anymore.” 

“Then I'm leaving.” You went straight for the door. If you were off then you were gone. 

“I don't think so. Sit.” 

You turned to glare at him, but threw yourself onto his couch anyway. 

“The company you work for never told you who I am did they?” He sounded conversational, but if the past two weeks had taught you anything, it was that he wasn't conversational in the slightest. He was probably just enjoying his victory and feeling like bragging. 

So you just shook your head no and tried to look bored. 

He smirked, great, he was going to brag. “I'm the CEO of Kaiba Corp. The biggest electronics and gaming company in Japan. You might think that nobody cares who I am, but everyone in the business world does. You'd lost the bet before we even got into that club.” 

Wow. He was an even bigger jerk than you first thought. He'd been planning that! You glared. “Well the security at the club didn't seem to care.” 

He considered that for a moment. “True. I am far less popular here than Japan.” He flashed you a smirk that told you how conceited he was. “In Japan I wouldn't have even been able to enter a place like that without being mobbed by people.” 

You rolled your eyes. He was even cockier than you'd first thought. “Can I leave now?” 

“You don't care about what your consequence for losing is?” 

He had you there. You sat in silence and waited for him to tell you. 

“There's a social function I have to attend. You will be my date. Arrange for someone else to drive that night.” He told you when it was and what time, but inwardly you were panicking. You couldn't go with him to something like that and have someone else drive. Anyone would tell your boss that you were dating Mr. Kaiba and make you look bad. Shit. 

“I can't.” 

“Then you're fired.” You looked into his eyes and you knew he wasn't bluffing. He would fire you. 

You took a deep breath. “Fine, I'll do it.” 

He smirked and you felt like you'd just sold your soul to the devil. “Good. We'll discuss it again tomorrow. You're dismissed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] I'm not a huge fan of Gucci and I wouldn't have thought Kaiba would be either. I'm more of a Chanel fan (not that I can afford any of this xD) but that doesn't strike me as Kaiba either. Anyway, I was looking at catalogs to figure out who he'd probably prefer out of all the stores in Rodeo and I saw this outfit that looked like Kaiba was the inspiration (link removed because it's no longer there, it's so last season now xD). If that doesn't look like Kaiba to you then I don't know what would. Nothing else felt like him though but after that outfit I was sold on Gucci.


	8. Icy Heights That Contain All Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics from "Caring is Creepy" by the Shins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My neighbors were blasting music for a short period of time last night. Weirdly enough, they were blasting the song that I picked for this chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy~

  
_This is way beyond my remote concern_  
_of being condescending._  
\---

“Please please please?” 

You were on the phone with one of your friends. You'd just explained your situation to her and now you were doing your best to convince her to do your job for a night. 

“Couldn't you get in trouble for that? What if I crash the car?” 

“You won't! Please? I can't ask anyone to take my place, they'll tell the boss that I'm sleeping with Mr. Kaiba or something. You're an excellent driver anyway!” 

“I don't know...” 

You really needed her to agree to this. “I'll give you all my pay from that night, it's overtime pay too.” 

“Well, I could use the extra money...” 

“GREAT!” You were ecstatic. “You can come over and we can make sure my uniform fits you. It should though, we're about the same size.” That was actually why you'd asked her to take your place. She could borrow your uniform with no problem. 

You said your good-byes and a million 'thank you's before hanging up with her. It was a huge relief to have one problem out of the way. Since you now had a friend willing to pretend to be a driver for a night, you wouldn't have to call in one of your coworkers. 

You still had a huge problem. You weren't supposed to get involved with your clients. Even though you weren't involved with him, this probably crossed that line a bit. 

Especially now that you'd googled that damn man. Which, in retrospect, you should have done sooner. Last night you thought that he'd simply been bragging. He wasn't. He really was an important man. His company was powerful, he was rich, and the internet was riddled with shrines dedicated to him. 

It made you incredibly angry. He could get a date no problem. He didn't have to force you into it. You could lose your job, and all because he refused to get off his lazy ass and just find a date. He was such a jerk. 

Speak of the devil. Your work phone was going off and a quick check to the ID confirmed that it was him. Which was odd. He normally wouldn't call to be picked up for another five hours, at least. 

“Hello?” 

“Where are you?!” 

You had no clue what he was yelling at you for. He hadn't told you that he needed to be anywhere at noon today. Settling for an honest answer, without sarcasm, you explained that you were at home, eating lunch. 

“Get over here NOW. I have a meeting at one across town.” 

“On my way.” Then you hung up before telling him what you were really thinking, which was a rude version of, ' _Gee Mr. Kaiba. Thanks a lot for telling me about that in advance_.' 

Seriously, yelling and swearing at your boss was never ever a good idea. Ever. 

Since you had absolutely no time to change, you simply threw the blazer of your uniform over your current top and the pants under your skirt before shimmying out of the skirt. You buttoned up the blazer on your way down your apartment stairs. You'd be warm, but at least your car had AC. 

Much speeding and questionable driving later you arrived at Kaiba's office. After letting him into the car you asked him where he needed to be, and you almost swore in front of him, yet again, as he told you he needed to get across the city in half an hour. 

You'd be lucky to travel about three blocks in half an hour at this time of day. Everyone was out trying to get lunch. You diplomatically told him that it was impossible, and he yelled that you were just incompetent. 

You almost told him that you'd show him incompetent, before you realized that he was currently the one paying you. 

“I'll do my best, but you really should have told me about your plans this morning.” 

“Just do your job.” 

**Bastard**. 

You ended up somehow getting him to the meeting fifteen minutes late. Which was an accomplishment that he clearly did not understand since he spent those fifteen minutes telling you what an imbecile you were. So by the time you pulled the car up to the curb, you were ready to happily tear his head off his body. 

You opened the door for him. “If I'm such a failure, then request a new driver, and perhaps you shouldn't take me to that company party.” You glared at him for a moment before fixing your face into a smile. The smile felt more like you were hostilely baring your teeth, but it was still a smile. “Now have a nice meeting and call me when you're done.” 

You were going to Starbucks for a double shot.


	9. Not the Fairest One of All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics from "Sleepwalking" by the Birthday Massacre.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously I was not joking about how dysfunctional this relationship is. Last chance to turn back. Tags have also been updated. 
> 
> Meanwhile, if this is your first or only fanfic that you've read by me... I promise nothing else is quite like this.

__

_Wait dear,_  
_the time is getting late here._  
_I'm all washed up_  
_and graced with faint applause,_  
_dressed in a cheap façade._  
  


You felt incredibly out of place and self-conscious at the party. Sure Kaiba had dressed you appropriately. He'd even convinced you to let him buy you jewelry. Your hair had been styled, your makeup was professionally done, and you certainly looked like you belonged. But looking the part had very little to do with feeling the part, and you were too used to serving the type of people around you. 

Being used to serving them did have its advantages. You felt comfortable enough talking to them despite not being able to fully participate in the conversations about business. 

That didn't stop you from wanting to disappear into a wall. 

You absolutely _loathed_ Seto Kaiba for forcing you into such a horrible situation. It didn't matter that he'd kept you near his side the entire night and diverted the worst of the conversations away from you. No, you weren't feeling forgiving at all tonight. You were feeling uncomfortable and useless. 

All that hassle and stress, and you were just **decoration**! Just a shiny bauble for him to have hanging on his arm. Why he hadn't selected someone more suitable was beyond you. From your observation (and since you did very little talking, you'd had plenty of time to observe), many of the women here would be perfectly willing to bend over backwards for him. Some of them seemed to even want to bend over on a table for him. 

You grabbed some champagne from a waiter passing by and downed the entire glass. Mr. Kaiba was a frustrating son-of-a-bitch. As you lowered the glass, you noted that he also happened to be glaring at you. Well, he could just piss off. 

You put that glass down and grabbed another one. This one was snatched from your hand before it reached your lips. Your 'date' dismissed the serving boy, and you just frowned in displeasure. 

“Don't drink too much.” He kept his voice low so that you were the only one who could hear him. 

“It's not like I have anything better to do!” you hissed at him. 

He ignored you and went back to talking to... whoever he happened to be talking to. You hadn't bothered to remember the guy's name. 

You would have wandered off to find something to eat or perhaps more champagne, but Kaiba's arm around your waist kept you firmly in place. He wouldn't let you wander off. 

Then the music started playing louder, and everyone seemed to be wandering in the same direction. You tried to look around to see what was going on, but it all seemed to be happening behind you, and Kaiba's steel grip kept you firmly in place. 

“Seto, would you dance with me?” 

A pretty blonde was standing in front of the two of you, interrupting his conversation and pretending that you didn't exist. 

“I couldn't dance with anyone until I've danced with my date.” His tone was dismissive, and then he was back to talking business. 

Suddenly it all clicked. You weren't a bauble as you'd previously assumed. You were an excuse. He could turn other women away with ease with you on his arm as a shield. You smirked. Well it would be a shame to make the night too easy for him. 

Biding your time, you waited until he was finally done with his current conversation. Then, the moment the other man walked away, you leaned into Mr. Kaiba. 

“So, do you even know how to dance?” The smile on your face was wicked and taunting. You finally had a way to get under his skin, and you were going to take advantage. 

“Don't be ridiculous.” 

He was trying to push you away, but you stayed close, clinging to the front of his shirt. “That's not a no.” You tried to keep the immature singsong tone out of your voice and failed. 

His eyes narrowed. “Do **you** know how to dance?” 

“There's no reason why I should know how.” You tried to seem haughty rather than defensive. 

He didn't say anything, but it seemed like he was guiding you to the dance floor. He couldn't be doing that though. You'd basically just admitted that you didn't know how to dance. Confident that he wouldn't want to embarrass his date, you assumed that he was just trying to mess with you. 

You began to panic the moment he pulled you onto the dance floor. You stared at him, wide-eyed, as he pulled you into position for the dance. 

“Relax,” he murmured, “and let me lead.” 

You couldn't believe that he'd told you to relax like it was nothing. You did your best to let him lead you around the dance floor, but you had no clue what you were doing. You were sure that you stumbled a few times, and by the time the song was over, you were completely mortified. 

The moment you got off the dance floor, you pulled away from him and made your way straight to the drinks. You downed one to soothe your slightly wounded pride, and then knocked back another so that you could be fully pissed off at him. 

Who did he even think he was dragging you out there like that? Asshole. 

An asshole who happened to be heading your way. So you downed one more drink for ~~unrestrained stupidity~~ confidence and walked towards him with your head high. You would not let him mess with you like this. 

He either missed the challenge in your eyes or completely ignored it. Once he was close enough, he grabbed your arm, pulling you towards him. “I told you not to drink like a lush.” 

“And I'm ignoring you.” You almost told him to fuck off, but you'd maintained enough of your senses to stop yourself. 

He sighed heavily. “Are you about to cause a scene?” 

“I could.” Then you reached up, twisting your fingers into his hair, and pulled him down to your level. “Would this be enough of a scene for you?” You kissed him, putting all of your pent up frustration and rage into that single act. 

You pulled away with a smirk, and if your mind had been clearer, you might have been concerned at the calculating expression on Kaiba's face. As it was, you were immensely pleased at your small victory. 

Again he was pulling you somewhere, and you were royally sick of being yanked around all night long. You couldn't understand why he thought that it was ok to pull women around like this. Not that you could really pull away from him. He was far too strong for that. 

At least he was dragging you outside. That meant the two of you were leaving, and your night of hell was over.  


\-----

Once you'd gotten back to his hotel, he surprised you by pulling you out of the car behind him. He dismissed his 'driver,' and when your friend protested, you subtly indicated that you'd be fine. 

Then his hand grabbed your upper arm, and you winced from the pain. His hold on your arm was too tight. 

“Hey, let go!” 

“You caused a scene. Now you'll pay the price.” 

“You know what, Mr. Kaiba? I didn't want to go tonight, and I warned you that I wouldn't be a good date. It's not my fault you don't understand the meaning of the word 'no'.” 

He growled, and then you found yourself tossed over his shoulder. 

It took a moment to sink in, but once it had, you were yelling at him to put you down. He was literally throwing you around, and you weren't going to let him. Just because he was an important man in the business world did not mean he could control you. 

He only put you down once he'd reached his room. You quickly tried to smooth out your clothing. 

“I am not your slave, Mr. Kaiba. I am your driver, nothing more, and I refuse to be treated this way.” With your head high and your shoulders back, you tried to stride out of the room. 

He blocked you, stopping you from being able to reach the door. “I haven't dismissed you yet.” 

“Too _damn_ bad.” 

“You're frustrating me.” 

You had a response for him, and it involved quite a few words that you'd wanted to say to him for weeks, but it flew out of your head when you found yourself pinned to the wall. His lips were on yours, and they seemed to be demanding something from you. 

They could demand all they wanted, but you were not going to submit to him. You raked your hands down his back, and you did your best to yank his shirt out of his pants. Once you were able to run your hands along his bare skin, you clawed at him. He would have some lovely markings from your nails tomorrow. 

His lips worked their way down your jaw, and you hissed as he bit your neck. Apparently he wouldn't be the only one with markings tomorrow. 

One of his hands found its way up your dress, and you moaned as he rubbed your opening through your underwear. Your hands fell away from his body and your head pushed back against the wall as he pushed your underwear aside. 

“You're such an asshole.” Your voice was strained as his fingers dipped in and out of you. 

You felt him smirk against your neck. “Doesn't feel like you object to that.” 

Your skirt was hiked up as he picked you up by your thighs and forced your legs to wrap around his hips. He pushed his hips into your own, and you realized that at some point he'd undone his belt and shoved his pants and boxers down. 

He shoved into you, and there was nothing gentle or slow about it. He set a fast and rough pace, and you could barely keep up with it. Eventually you were nothing but a bundle of nerves moaning and shouting the occasional, 'Oh god!' It had been far too long since you'd had a good fuck like this, and you climaxed well before he did. 

He came with a final aggressive thrust before briefly slumping against you. Then he abruptly pulled away and began to readjust his clothes. “You can go now.” 

Your jaw dropped and you simply stared at him in disbelief. Then the rage boiled over, and you were in his face. “I am not your slave!” You wanted to rant and rave at him but you couldn't get anymore words out. You had too much to say and all the words became muddled. You ripped off the jewelry that he bought you and threw it at him. "You're such a self-centered asshole!" 

As you stormed out of his hotel room, you hoped your friend was still waiting in the parking lot.


	10. Whose War Is It Anyway?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics from "Psychobabble" by Frou Frou.

_Snap out of it  
_ _you're not listening to this.  
_ _And just for once,  
_ _could you let me finish a sentence?_

\-----

When you woke up the next morning, the first thing on your mind was the question of which day of the week it was. The answer, Sunday, came to you quickly, and you turned over to bury your head under the pillow.

The noise that woke you up wouldn't go away, and you belatedly realized that it was your phone ringing. You reached over, sending the call to voicemail without looking at the caller ID. 

That only stopped your phone for a moment. It started ringing again. You groaned, knowing it had to be important, and answered your phone. 

"I have errands to run. I need you here immediately." 

Of course it was Kaiba. How could you expect it to be anyone else? "No. It's my day off. Get a temp." You hung up before he could protest.

Then you remembered everything that happened last night. You sat up in bed, panic kickstarting your day. "Oh... crap..." You couldn't believe that you'd let Kaiba get away with making you feel so used last night. You didn't know if you could ever work with him again. 

Your phone began ringing again. You glanced at it. It was Kaiba. 

You picked up the phone, acting on impulse. “I quit. I can't work with you anymore. You need a new driver.”

“Don't be dramatic. You can't quit.” His voice betrayed no hint of any emotion. You wondered how he could do that. Did he normally sleep with his employees? Or perhaps he had a female driver at home and slept with her too?

You would never know.

“You don't get a say in the matter. I can't work with you anymore, Mr. Kaiba.”

“Stop acting like such a child. There's no reason for you to quit.” 

This was turning into an awkward conversation. Why couldn't he just accept that you weren't going to be driving for him anymore and move on? “You probably have expectations of me now, and I can't work like that.”

“I only expect you to promptly drive me wherever I need to go. Now get over here. I don't have time to sit around waiting for you to get over yourself.”

He made that sound like such a small matter. Like he wasn't a demanding jackass. You bit your tongue and refused to yell at him about it. It wasn't what you needed to talk about anyway... even though it would be the easier conversation to have. You needed to address last night. It was the real reason you couldn't work for the man again. “After last night. I doubt that.” You steeled yourself. “I was drunk, it was a mistake, and I don't want to work for you anymore.”

“I am not expecting a repeat of last night,” he nearly snarled. You almost dropped your phone at the anger in his voice. “It was... a mistake. We agree.”

You were confused. However you'd expected him to behave (and since he was a cocky jerk, you had been expecting some lewd comments), it wasn't anything like this. This was unsettling. Sure you had been attracted to him last night in some twisted way, but that had been the alcohol and your physical attraction to him. What reasons had he had? “Then you should agree that you need a new driver.”

“I don't. The other drivers talk too much. They think working for me means they can act like my friend. You don't hide that you hate working for me, but you're professional and keep to yourself. I prefer that to the alternative.”

In that moment, you felt transparent. Sure you'd had the occasional outburst, but you'd spent the past few weeks patting yourself on the back thinking that you'd hidden all your dislike of his attitude. It irked you that he was so perceptive.

“Well then if you know how much I dislike you, you shouldn't be surprised that I don't want to work with you anymore.” You couldn't stop yourself. “You're demanding and egotistical, and you make me work far too much, and goddamnit I don't want to be your driver!”

There was a short pause after your outburst, and you almost believed that you had won. Then he spoke, “Shall we have another wager? I'll allow you to quit, but only if you find an alternate by tomorrow morning.”

You could do that. Perhaps he thought that you couldn't find an alternate on a Sunday, perhaps he thought a day wasn't enough time. You knew better. Plenty of other drivers owed you favors, and the manager on duty simply had to ok the switch. The manager on duty for Sundays was lazy and would probably say it was fine if only to get you to leave him alone. It was as good as done.

“You've got a bet.”

You hung up, glad to have something to focus on as you tried to forget just how much you had let Kaiba get away with last night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. This is filler, and I'm sorry? I wanted to combine chapters, but that would throw me off as I edit the story so I decided to leave it be.


	11. You Don't Stand A Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics from "Risky Business" by The Cab

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got rolling on editing the next chapter since the last one was filler. 
> 
> Enjoy~

_Hide the key,_  
'cause I'm coming over   
to settle the score.

“Steve is willing to switch with me. I'll be taking his Canadian actor next week and he's going to work for Mr. Kaiba.”

Your boss was clearly not happy with that statement. He didn't like it when his drivers switched midway through a client's stay. According to him, having the same driver the entire time made clients want to come back. Something about familiarity or some such bullshit. You knew better. Most clients barely even paid any attention to you.

“Request refused.”

You had to bite your tongue to refrain from yelling at your boss. It wouldn't get you anywhere. “May I ask why?”

“He likes you.”

This sent off warning bells in your head. What did your boss know? “I'm sure you're mistaken,” you stammered. “He doesn't–”

“Oh, I'm sure he's been a real jerk to you,” your boss interrupted. “But he normally goes through at least five different drivers during his stay. To be honest, out of all the drivers we've had for a while, you're the only one who hasn't dealt with him before this. Even if I did let you switch, it would have to be with one of our green drivers, and I don't want to subject them to him yet.”

Damn. You hadn't realized that Kaiba was a long-term client. You'd known that he'd used the company before, but because of his age, you'd assumed that he'd only used it once before.

You really needed to stop assuming things about him.

“I can't work for him anymore sir.”

“You don't have a choice.”

You stood there in silence for a moment. You knew what he was saying, but you couldn't just accept that. “If that's the case, sir, then I'm going to have to quit.”

“Don't be like that! Threatening to quit isn't going to get you anywhere.”

“It's not a threat.” You were completely serious. You would quit and go work at a Starbucks or something if you had to. At least then you could drink all the coffee you wanted.

Your boss was clearly surprised. “Well if that's what you want, I won't stop you.”

“Fine.” You couldn't say that you were surprised. You pulled out your company phone, pager, and car keys. Then you dumped them onto his desk. “I quit.” Then you turned on your heel and left. Your personal car was in the lot somewhere.

You knew that you should be worried. You were going to have to bust your ass finding a new job, but you couldn't help the sense of freedom that washed over you. You were free! You wouldn't have to drive around a jackass client ever again!

 

\-----

The next day, you planned on sleeping in just because you could, but your cell phone interrupted your sleep. Figuring that it could be an emergency you groggily grabbed the phone off your night stand, and dragged it to join you under the covers.

“What's up?”

“Why the hell did you  _quit_?”

“What the hell are you–oh.” It had taken you a minute to recognize the voice. “How'd you get my number?”

He ignored your question. “I didn't give you permission to quit.”

“I won the bet. You have a new driver and you have to let me quit.”

“No.”

You couldn't believe that he was being this stubborn. Why did he even care if you were working for him or not? “Give me one good reason to continue working for you.”

There was silence on the other end. After a moment, you had to check to make sure that he hadn't hung up on you. Then he finally spoke. “I didn't give you permission to quit.”

“I've told you before, Mr. Kaiba. This isn't Japan. Nobody gives a damn about what you want.” You hung up on him.

He called you back. You turned your phone off.

 

\-----

Later, you were interrupted by someone pounding on your door as you looked up jobs. You had a suspicion about who would be at your door, but you opened it anyway.

It was him. “What do you want?” You didn't even bother masking your hostility. It was all his fault that you'd had to quit your job.

He pushed past you and into your place. “That wasn't an invite to come in you know.”

“Mokuba liked the candy that you sent him.”

“Um, ok. That's nice.” What were you supposed to say to that? Sure you were glad that the kid had liked the candy, but Kaiba could have just sent you a note or something. It seemed like a really random reason to just show up unannounced.

He paced angrily. “You never had to do that for him. You don't like me, and you don't know him! You clearly didn't want to work that day either.”

“Just because I don't like you, that doesn't mean your brother should suffer.”

He laughed, and you were caught off guard. It was a dry, mocking laugh. “You probably won't be surprised to know that I hear that often. People  _like_  Mokuba, but you haven't  **met**  him. So why would you go out of your way for him?”

“Has this been bothering you all week?” You were surprised by how worked up he seemed to be by this. You'd more or less just been doing the decent thing. It wasn't like you had tried to be exceptionally nice or anything.

“You've been bothering me.”

That was just offensive. “Well, excuse me, but if I bother you so much, then what the hell are you doing here? I won't cry if you leave.”

He stalked toward you, and you backed away until he managed to corner you against a wall. “How many people do you think tell me only what I want to hear?”

What kind of question was that, and why did he look like it was so serious? “Absolutely everyone.” Obviously.

“You don't.”

You scoffed. “When I was working for you I did.”

“No.” He seemed to be searching your face for something. You hoped that he never found whatever it was. “You're professional while working, so you didn't always say what you were thinking, but you didn't hide it either. You're honest.”

You stared at him in silence. You weren't entirely sure what he was talking about anymore, and you had no idea what to say.

He stepped away from you and tossed something your way. “I only employ the best. Take your job back.”

You looked down into your hands. He'd just tossed you a set of keys. Then you noticed the ancient Dark Magician Girl keychain on them and realized that they were your work keys. The ones that you'd turned in yesterday. “How did you–”

“I dealt with your boss. He'll pretend you never quit.”

You rolled your eyes at his interruption. “I was  **going to say**  how the hell did you get here?”

He scoffed. “I drove.”

“You can... nevermind, I don't want to know.” You really didn't want to know if that was legal or not. “I told you before that I can't work for you.”

“Why not?” he demanded.

“Because you've seen me naked. It makes working for you too awkward.”

You could tell that he was starting to get frustrated with you. “What happened between us has nothing to do with your job. Just accept that and move on!”

You would have taken a step back from him, but there was still a wall behind you. He  _really_  meant that though. You could tell that he would have no problem separating you into two people: the girl he'd had sex with and the girl who drove him around. Maybe, just maybe you could work for him. You really weren't looking forward to finding a new job after all.

“Fine.”

“Good. Now drive me back to my hotel. I have a meeting in an hour.”

You couldn't stop yourself from rolling your eyes. You didn't think you would ever understand the man, but at the very least, keeping your job would ensure you could pay rent. 


	12. Love is a Slow Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original Notes: So I was watching the new Lady Gaga video, Judas, and at the beginning when they're driving the motorcycles everywhere I was like, _Oh they're on the 101... wtf, now they're on the 10 heading towards the 101?!_ Then of course naming all those LA freeways reminded me that I haven't updated Summer Skin in a while. (Incidentally, my inspiration for the reader character confirmed the freeways I wasn't very positive about.) So you can thank Judas for reminding me to write this chapter. xD 
> 
> But as of 8/12/17, Reno2490 was the one who inspired me to start posting up the chapters for this over here. I'm sorry I left it alone for so long! I didn't realize that people were waiting on this story. D: 
> 
> Lyrics for this chapter are "Slow Dance" by Framing Hanley.

 

_Don't let this end now,_  
_slow this dance down._  
\-----

True to his word, he treated you exactly the same for the rest of the day. He really didn't care that he'd slept with you. Which you liked... but at the same time, you found yourself incredibly irritated by it.

Of course, this entire ordeal had left you with a tiny problem. Because Kaiba had brought the company car to you, your personal car remained at home, but you had to take the company car back to the company at the end of the day. It was too far away from your apartment for you to really be willing to take the bus. You didn't even have a clue what the bus schedules were or which ones you'd have to take anyway. You needed to get someone to drive your car to the company for you or to pick you up from the company.

None of your friends were actually picking up their phones. Which sucked. How were you supposed to get someone to pick you up if they were all unavailable?

You really shouldn't be eying Kaiba right now. The rational voice in your head said that you really, really should not be eying him. He would not help you. There was simply no way in hell that he would be willing to help you. Besides, he didn't even have a car. You'd have to convince him to drive your car to the company for you. Even if you could convince him, he would probably take one look at your car and refuse to get into it. By his standards, it was probably a piece of crap. Then again... he'd driven the company car at least once today so you could always take a risk and have him drive that back to the company for you. That might work, even if the company was sure to hate it. He'd driven it once. What was once more?

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do your job!” he barked at you from the backseat. You hadn't realized that he'd noticed the glances that you were shooting him via the rearview mirror. He was far too observant for his own good.

“I need a favor.” It was worth a shot, and you were desperate.

“No.”

“You haven't even heard the favor.”

“The answer is still no.”

Screw this. You were going to drive home and convince him while you were on the way. It was entirely his fault that you were in this situation. “I don't have any way to get home after I drop the car off at the company tonight.”

“Not my problem,” he interrupted.

“Well is IS your fault you know. Normally I drive my car to the company and then home at the end of the night.”

“I don't see how I'm supposed to solve this problem. Have someone pick you up.”

He was undeniably difficult. “I already tried that. Nobody is available.”

“No.”

You pulled up in front of your place and waved the keys in front of him. “Dude, you owe me. I'll even let you drive this car so you don't have to drive mine.”

“Do you even know the meaning of the word no?”

“What? You can drive the car here but not back?” you taunted. “I completely understand if it's because you aren't skilled enough to drive LA.”

He ripped the keys from your hand and got out of the backseat. Trying not to laugh at how easy it was to take advantage of his pride, you opened the door and stood. You leaned on the car to talk to him. “So... do you know how to get there?”

He walked around the car and stopped next to you. “Do you think I'm an idiot? My phone has GPS.” He gave you a pointed glare, indicating that you needed to move.

“Well don't be afraid to call if you get lost. I'll probably be there before you.” You brushed your hand against his arm teasingly before stepping aside to allow him into the car.

“Doubtful.” He slammed the door shut, and you weren't sure if it was doubtful that he'd get lost or that you'd beat him there. You watched him speed down the street before making your way over to your little old car. It was just a basic four door and quite a number of years old, but it was new enough that all you had to do was press a button to unlock the door.

You slid into the seat and ran a hand over the wheel. You grinned as you turned the key in the ignition, and your car roared to life. Kaiba had a head start, and he was driving a car that was technically faster than yours, but you still had two clear advantages. You knew where you were going, and you were intimately familiar with your car. You had once asked if he had a driver back home and the answer had been yes. A man like that would never know any car the way you knew your own. You'd been weaving in and out of traffic in this baby ever since you were sixteen. With so many years, you knew how hard you could push the gas pedal, how quickly the car could stop, and exactly how much room you needed to merge.

He never had a chance. You went through a drive-thru for a drink and still had to sit at the company for ten minutes waiting for him. When he finally pulled into the lot, you stood up and motioned to him, showing him exactly where the car needed to be parked. He pulled into the spot, and you waited by the door. When he opened the door, you jokingly opened the back door for him.

“If you'll get in the back, I'll take you to your hotel, sir.”

“Just go check in with your boss. You can take me back in your own car.”

You glanced over at your own car and tried not to laugh. He probably didn't have a clue what he'd just said. Besides, you hadn't washed your car in a little over two weeks. It was embarrassingly filthy. “No, that's ok. I should really take you back first.”

“Just go check in with your boss and stop wasting my time.”

“Fine, but remember you asked for it.” If you were honest, you didn't want to really face your boss either. You had quit just yesterday, and you hadn't seen him since you'd been unofficially given back your job. You knocked on the door to his office and waited until you heard a 'come in' before opening the door.

He shouted your name in shock before standing. “I had Mr. Kaiba in here just this morning yelling that he wanted you back! You know he made the driver I gave him cry!” He pointed a finger at you like it was somehow your fault that Kaiba was an asshole. “He made me give him your car and address. Does this mean that he threatened you into coming back to work?”

“More or less.” No need to share the details.

“Well, I can't say I'm glad to see you back.” He sat back down at his desk. “But if Mr. Kaiba likes you so much, I don't think I'll ever be rid of you.”

You simply gave him your work keys without comment and left. He'd put them on your hook later after he checked the car for damages.

You found Kaiba waiting just outside the office. Apparently he liked to eavesdrop, but you decided not to comment on that. You led him over to your car. “This is my baby.”

His face turned into a blank slate so you didn't know what he was thinking, but you would bet that he was surprised. “This is what you drive?”

“Yep. I may get paid to drive nice cars, but that doesn't mean I can afford one.” You laughed and got into the car. You weren't on duty anymore so he could open his own damn door. It also meant you could drive as fast as you wanted. You made sure to keep your cackling all internal. No need to warn Kaiba about your scare tactics. 


	13. I Wish for the Whole Truth

 

_And I guess it doesn't matter what I say or what I seem,_  
_you stuck what I felt for you in the pocket of your jeans._  
 _Ignoring me the morning after isn't enough_  
 _and I swear I'm going to cry._  
 _I'm sick of tryin' to be tough._  
\-----

As a general rule, when you turned your car on, the radio tended to blast into life. It wasn't necessarily loud, but you liked driving with the windows down, and in a city, the music had to be loud just to drown out all the external noise enough to be audible. The moment your radio kicked into life, Kaiba turned it off.

“Hey!” You swatted his hand away from your radio. “My car, my radio, and your options are limited.” You tossed your phone into his lap. “You can choose whatever you want to listen to from anything on that. Unlike you, I'm not a complete tyrant.”

“I doubt there's anything worthwhile on here.”

“Well there's thousands of songs available. You'd have to be completely close-minded to not like something there.” You would have grinned at him, but you were too busy pulling out of the parking lot.

“Are you driving back to my hotel?”

“Obviously. Where else would I take you?” You glanced over at him. He seemed to be shuffling through your music so you couldn't quite tell what he'd meant by that question.

“Are there any decent restaurants around here?”

“I don't think there's a restaurant in the world that's decent by your standard.” The lack of music was starting to irritate you. “If you aren't going to pick a song sometime soon could you at least start my 'Driving' playlist?”

“Then just pick somewhere that you like.”

“Dude, I'm off the clock.” You were absentmindedly nodding your head to the song's intro until something occurred to you. “Are you asking me out?”

He was silent for a long moment and you kept glancing over to try to figure out what was going on. It was even harder to read his face while you were going fifty down a surface street. “Yes.”

Well, this was completely unexpected. “You're doing it wrong,” you blurted out. He didn't respond, and you imagined that you might have offended him. “Normally you ask a girl out, you know, in advance, and usually there's some actual asking involved.”

“You don't have any plans. Have dinner with me.”

“I already ate.” You grinned as a plan started to form. “But there's a place relatively nearby that has delicious desserts. Unless you hate sweets?”

“I don't.”

You glanced over, nobody was there, so you merged two lanes over and pulled a sharp left.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Changing course. The bakery is this way.” You began humming to the music, glad that he hadn't changed it yet even though it probably wasn't to his taste. He yelled something about reckless driving, but you ignored him and turned up the music. You began absentmindedly mouthing along to the lyrics as you decided the best course to Westwood.

“What are you listening to?”

You'd almost missed that question. “Rammstein.”

“I meant language. I can tell what the song is just by looking down.”

Well wasn't he a smartass. “But you can't pick out the language?” you taunted. “It's German.”

“Do you actually understand it?”

“Well, yeah.” He'd never really asked you any questions about yourself before. This was new.

“Your second language?”

“No, technically that would be Spanish.” You laughed. “Had to take that for about five years in school. German is what I picked up in college once I got sick of rolling my 'r's.”

“You're multilingual?”

He seemed impressed, and you almost didn't want to admit to the truth. “Nope. Though I can say, 'Good day. Where would you like to go?' in about twenty different languages. I can't actually speak anything other than English fluently. You shouldn't share that with my boss f.y.i.”

“You lied to your boss?” Now he was the opposite of impressed. You really should have just let him think you were awesome with languages.

“I didn't lie. It's not my fault if he assumed five years of Spanish and two of German would result in fluency. They should have, I guess.” You muttered that last part to yourself. He didn't need to know that you were a little bit bitter about your linguistic failures. He was probably amazing at languages considering how well he spoke English. Actually, thinking about it made you curious. “How many languages do you know?”

“I've been fluent in both Japanese and English since I was eleven. I'm also semi-fluent in Chinese and Korean, and I know a little Russian and French.”

Now you were the one impressed. “How'd you learn so many languages?”

“I was home schooled, and it was expected of me.”

You were too busy looking for parking to glance over at him, but his voice sounded a bit strained. There was more to that story than he was telling you. “Training to take over your father's company?” It wasn't as common for sons to inherit companies anymore, but it still happened.

“No. The man who raised me was many things, but he was never my father.”

You flinched at the venom in his voice. You had clearly hit a sensitive subject so you decided to keep quiet until you found somewhere to park your car. Luck was on your side and you found a spot on the street about two blocks down from where you wanted to go. You backed into the spot and got out of your car to study all the signs. No parking during rush hour, which was long gone, and no parking during Thursday morning, which it definitely wasn't. The first Tuesday of the month was a no-go, but today wasn't Tuesday. You were good to go.

You ducked your head back into the car. “You do know how to get out of a car by yourself right?”

He got out of the car and looked at all the apartments. “Are you sure you aren't lost?”

“Not at all. We just have some walking to do.” You locked your car and started walking down the street. You didn't even turn to see if he was following you. “Don't worry, you'll fit right in, there's college students everywhere.”

“I'm not a college student.” With his long legs, he easily caught up to you.

“You're young enough to be one.”

He settled into a sullen silence until the two of you reached Gayley. The street was significantly busier than the residential street that you'd parked on, and there were people all over the sidewalk. Most of them were college students.

Kaiba eyed a group of frat boys who were sitting on their porch drinking, with clear disgust. “I'm nothing like them.”

“Yes, I'm sure you've never gone to a party, had a few drinks, and then a slept with a random girl.” You wished that your mouth would stop just saying things. You didn't want to be the first one to bring that up again. Now you just felt like you were the only one fixated on that night.

He grabbed your hand, pulling your attention away from the crossing light. “I don't sleep with random women.”

You simply stared into his deep blue eyes, feeling overwhelmed and not knowing what to say. Then the crossing light began to chirp giving you an excuse to end this conversation.

“Time to cross!” you declared as you dragged him across the street. The bakery was at the end of this block. It was incredibly crowded so you grabbed Kaiba's hand and dragged him up to the counter to wait for your turn. Since Kaiba was both attractive and tall, neither of you had to wait for very long before a server asked him what he wanted.

“We'll take a Cappuccino cake, a Florentine fruit cup, and two espressos please.” You smiled at the woman who clearly hadn't wanted to take an order from you. “For here.” You let Kaiba take care of paying for it, he had technically been the one to ask you out after all, and looked for a table. It was a nice night so all four of the tables outside had been taken. It looked like there were a few empty spots in the back of the bakery though. You grabbed both of the desserts. “I hope you can handle the drinks,” you teased Kaiba, motioning for him to grab them and follow you.

There was an empty table in the back, and you grinned. The bakery was loud and full of talking college students, just the sort of place that you figured Kaiba would avoid, and you kind of liked seeing him uncomfortable. You sat down at the four person table, expecting him to sit across from you, and he surprised you by sitting in the seat next to you. You slid the Cappuccino cake over to him. “I think you'll like it.”

“Wouldn't you rather eat somewhere less crowded?”

“Nope.” You broke off the edge of your fruit cup and scooped up a piece of fruit with it. “I think it's nice and cozy here.”

Both of you sat in silence as you ate. He seemed to be observing the people around you and you were too caught up in your own thoughts. You wondered what he'd meant by his comment earlier and why he'd even wanted to go out with you in the first place. You were irritated by him more often than not, and you often blurted out things that you shouldn't say. So what about you would he ever find appealing?

Afterward, as the two of you walked back to your car, you asked him if he'd liked the cake.

“It was adequate.”

You grinned. You had been right in thinking that he would like it. Then the catcalls of a few drunken guys ruined your mood. You were passing the same frat house again, but at some point, the frat boys had moved up to the roof and they seemed, to be calling down to you. You decided that it wasn't worth trying to decide what they were saying, and you just flipped them off.

Then an arm was wrapped around your waist, and you looked over to see Kaiba glaring up at them. “I'm nothing like that,” he muttered as he led you down the street and towards your car.

He seemed to be lost in thought for the entire ride back to his hotel, and you honestly didn't have much to say either. The ride stayed silent until you dropped him off and called out a 'See you tomorrow!' as he got out of your car.

Today had given you a lot to think about, and you had the feeling that it had done the same for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of chapter notes, but I'll try to make this quick.  
> The song I had in mind is "Benzin" by Rammstein. It's basically about a desire for gasoline and while it's intended as social commentary I felt like it suits the reader.  
> When deciding languages for Kaiba, I had a difficult time. I ended up taking both business and geography into consideration. For the reader, I simply used the two languages I could write in if they end up being relevant. (They probably won't but just in case, I don't want to have to use google translate.) And I don't know how schools work in other states but in California you can start taking a foreign language as early as 8th grade and they VERY STRONGLY ~~force~~ suggest that you take Spanish.  
>  Um, this update takes place with an actual locale in mind. So I really hope I was able to convey the setting.


	14. It's Their Role, and It's All They Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in mind that you know more about Mr. Kaiba than our dear reader character. ;D

 

_Some boys are sleeping alone,_  
_because there's no one that's keeping them warm through the evening,_  
_and they know that they're on their own._  
_Some boys don't know how to love._  
\-----

The next morning was unsettling as he refused to respond to your 'Good morning!' and simply got into the car without a word. It was just like any other morning, and to be honest, you had been expecting some sort of acknowledgment. Something to indicate that your relationship with him had gone beyond driver and client. Except he was treating you just like he'd treated you a week ago.

How could anyone be this emotionally detached? It was frustrating. You couldn't pretend that you weren't starting to feel some warm fuzzies for him, so how could he just treat you like a driver?

Unless he didn't have any feelings for you at all.

What if you were just some sort of fun toy to play with? You didn't know this guy that well, and you didn't know if he was some sort of womanizer. He could be, and you could have fallen into a trap.

As you picked up his morning coffee, you tried to think it over rationally. Just yesterday, you'd gone on a date with him. It was difficult to remember that because of the way he was treating you, but it was true. So technically you were dating him, more or less. You just didn't know if that was how he would see it.

You'd spent some time seriously considering everything last night. After that date, you really had to stop and consider where your relationship with Kaiba might be going and where you were willing to let it go. He really frustrated you, in more ways than one, but he was also incredibly intriguing. You were attracted to him and unafraid to admit it.

Then he pulled something like this, treating you like nothing had changed, and you just wanted to shake him. Somehow you were going to have to figure out what was going on in his head. Which might just be as simple as asking him.

Yeah, you could just ask him how he felt about you and what was going on between the two of you. It was a pretty good plan. Or it would be if he would actually be willing to respond. With his previous track record in mind, there was a good chance that he'd say something negative about your intelligence and never actually answer the question. He didn't seem to like revealing anything and it made this entire experience a little awkward.

You wondered how his previous relationships had worked out before you suddenly wondered if he'd actually had any previous relationships. You couldn't stop from smiling to yourself as you realized that your imagination was getting the best of you. Surely a man like Kaiba would have had a frequent number of girlfriends by now. He was probably quite the ladies man in high school.

Yesterday had probably only been a little bit awkward because he was in unfamiliar territory. If you'd been in Japan, he probably would have given you very specific directions to some fancy restaurant that he frequented when on dates.

Maybe you should ask him out? You were the one with knowledge of the area and his answer would tell you if you were dating or not. As you dropped him off you decided that it was something to consider for the rest of the day.

When you got the message to pick him up, you thought circles around the entire idea. You decided that it would be fun to drag him out to the beach over the weekend. The man needed some sun, and you thought over all the different ways to ask and wondered how he'd respond. The thought of getting rejected stung a little, and the idea that he might not like a woman who did the asking was worrisome, but you'd always been one for taking risks.

That didn't mean that you were going to ask him out right when you picked him up. First you wanted to ascertain that he wasn't in a particularly foul mood, and second you wanted to be able to run away if he did say no. Just because you were willing to risk that didn't mean you wanted to be stuck with him in a car if he did reject you.

Glutton for punishment you were not.

So the moment you pulled up in front of his hotel, you blurted out that you wanted to ask him something. He didn't say anything, and you shot a glance in your mirror to make sure he was paying attention.

“Are you free this weekend?”

“Perhaps. Why?”

You bit the bullet and just asked him. “Iwantedtoknowifyou'dgooutwithme.” After a moment's hesitation you shot a glance his way, and he seemed confused.

“You'd be easier to understand if you actually breathed in between words,” he snapped.

“Right.” You could feel yourself blushing. “Would you like to go out with me this weekend?”

He seemed surprised, and you wondered if he'd been asked out before. Surely the answer had to be yes. Maybe he just wasn't expecting you to ask him out. “I've got nothing better to do,” he finally responded.

While that hadn't been the response you'd been hoping for, it still seemed like a pretty good response. So you finally got out of the car and opened his door for him. “See you tomorrow, sir!”

He didn't say anything as he got out of the car and walked into the hotel, but you hadn't been expecting anything.


	15. Minuet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original notes: No lyrics for this one, this felt like an interlude so for the chapter title I used "Minuet" which is the name of a From First to Last interlude. No lyrics in that song so no lyrics here. (Lyrics will return in the next update.)  
> Venice Beach is the next chapter (I decided I'd have the reader bring him to Venice... she's going to be such a troll to him xD), but enjoy this little interlude~

Normally, you never would have questioned anyone to make sure they were prepared for a trip to the beach. There were beaches all over the place, and your summers were always spent on the shore with your friends. Everyone knew what to bring to the beach.  
  
Kaiba was an unknown entity. He didn't seem like a beach-y sort of person to you to be honest. You didn't think that he would have packed a swimsuit. In fact, you'd seen his wardrobe, most of his clothes weren't even acceptable for summer weather. You were going to have to make sure that he had something to wear on Saturday.  
  
Resigned to your fate, you tried to gather the guts to broach the subject with him. You didn't manage to do it until Thursday evening.  
  
“Do you have a swimsuit?”  
  
He glared at you, disgust evident in his eyes.   
  
Okay, so it was a random question, straight out of the blue. That didn't mean he had to look at you like that. “I wanted to go to the beach Saturday. You need something appropriate.”  
  
“I don't plan on going into the water.”  
  
No, you were so not going to let him dismiss the subject like that. “I still think you should be wearing trunks or something.”  
  
Ooooh, something about your language confused him. The look on his face said he assumed you were speaking nonsense but didn't want to embarrass himself by saying so when he could be wrong.   
  
“It's still early. Let's go shopping!” Preferably at the mall. There was a beach store there for the summer, and you could get him trunks and a towel in one stop.  
  
Of course, once you were at the mall, he complained about all the walking. You took one step into the mall when he asked you if there was anywhere more appropriate to shop. You rolled your eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him along behind you. He complained but allowed you to lead him through the mall without resistance.  
  
It was a little amusing actually. As you made your way to the store, you caught all the glances that various women were sending your way, and you knew that they were admiring Kaiba. You'd admire him, too, if you were one of them. Without any knowledge of his personality, he'd seem like quite a catch. Tall, thin, nice hair, gorgeous blue eyes, and an attractive face. Then his personality got added into the equation, and he became a headache.  
  
His confidence was alluring, but his intelligence was, quite frankly, one of the sexiest things about him. You were still upset that he'd broken your computer, but you were a little intrigued by the knowledge that he was capable of doing that.  
  
Bright colors caught your attention, and you realized that you were within sight of the beach store. Your target in sight, you walked faster, eager to force beach supplies on Kaiba.  
  
He figured out exactly what you had planned the moment you dragged him into the store.  
  
“No.”  
  
“You don't have a choice in the matter.” You grinned and dragged him over to the men's boardshorts. “Now, I'm positive you're probably a small, but what sort of pattern would you like? Oooooh, what about this!” You pulled out boardshorts with a rainbow print.  
  
“I hope you're joking.” He ripped the shorts out of your hands and shoved them back onto the rack. “This is ridiculous.”  
  
You crossed your arms. “You need some sort of bathing suit before we go to the beach. You can't go to the beach in the clothes you wear everyday.”  
  
“I don't see why not.”  
  
“What's your favorite color?”  
  
“Blue,” he responded without pause. Then his eyes narrowed. “Why?”  
  
You pulled out a pair of basic, blue board-shorts and shoved them at him before dragging him over to the towels. “Can you pick out your own beach towel or do I have to do that for you too?”  
  
“I don't need any of this.”  
  
It was officially time to drag out the big guns. Hopefully this would work on him. “If you want to go to the beach with me, you do, and if you don't go to the beach with me, then you'll never see me in a bikini.” There was a moment of silence, and his expression remained unchanged. “Well if you don't want to go, then I'll just go by myself and find someone who'll appreciate my bikini–”  
  
“Fine.” He grabbed the towel closest to him. It happened to be a bright orange, and you were positive that he hadn't even looked at it yet.  
  
“You sure you want that towel?”  
  
He looked down at it and put it back where it was. Then he grabbed a striped blue towel. His expression dared you to try and challenge this decision. You smiled and grabbed his stuff before walking over to the register. You could tell that he was behind you from the way that the cashier's eyes completely glazed over and focused on something behind you. Then Kaiba stepped next to you.  
  
“This for you?” she asked conversationally as she clearly began to imagine him shirtless in those board-shorts.  
  
He didn't respond, and you could tell that that irritated her. She rang the items up and snapped out the total. He paid, completing your shopping trip for the day.  
  
“See that was completely painless!” you teased as you led him back to your car.  
  
“Shut up.”  
  
You decided not to tell him that you were looking forward to dragging him around Venice Beach shirtless. He didn't need advance warning of your plans.


	16. A Friend With Weed is Better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHEM. 
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MR. SETO KAIBA~ 
> 
> What sort of Kaiba ~~fangirl~~ writer would I be if I let the 25th go by unremarked? 
> 
> Expect an update to Transience at some point in the day. (Later in the day because I need to edit it.)
> 
> Also, I am doing a celebratory thing [here on my Tumblr](http://chimerickat.tumblr.com/post/166770403409). 
> 
> Song used in this chapter is "Pure Morning" by Placebo.

 

 

_A friend in need is a friend indeed,_  
_a friend who'll tease is better,_  
 _and when she's pressed, she will undress_  
 _which makes for stormy weather._  
\-----

Seto Kaiba was the King of Being Difficult. It was the beginning of the day, you were picking him up from his hotel room, and you already wanted to hit him.

“Just put the damn shorts on.” You shoved the swim trunks in his face, trying to convince him to take them from you already.

“I don't plan on swimming.”

“That's not the point!” You wondered what had possessed you to want to actually spend time with this man. Surely you hated yourself. “I'm wearing a bikini under my clothes. You wear a bathing suit when you go to the beach. It's just what you're expected to wear.”

“The beach is sounding less and less appealing.”

You were torn between leaving and trying to get him into the stupid shorts. Your innately stubborn nature won out, and you reached for the waistband of his pants. You unbuttoned his pants before he stepped back.

“What are you doing?”

“If you won't put them on yourself, I'll do it for you. It's going to be too hot today for you to wear pants.”

Perhaps he was trying to see if he could unnerve you. Staring directly at you, he unzipped his pants and shoved them off his hips. He stepped out of his pants and reached for the shorts. You stepped back and pulled them away from him. If he thought you were going to behave like a thirteen-year-old he was sorely mistaken.

“You'll need to take the boxers off too.” You steadily maintained eye contact and tried to look like you weren't bothered at all by his undressing.

The second the boxers were on the floor you tossed him the shorts, careful to keep your eyes up and away from anything below his chin. Then you turned to his closet. “You're going to need a better shirt too. Long sleeves really don't suit this weather.” You grabbed a button up shirt. It was a little too formal, but it would have to do.

You turned back to give it to him and almost dropped it. He was shirtless and looking incredibly attractive. “Or you could just go without a shirt.”

“Don't be an idiot.” He took the shirt from you and put it on. You resisted the urge to stop him from buttoning it up. It was a shame. His skin could really use some color.

Well, at least he was dressed appropriately now?

As the two of you walked down to where your car was parked, you asked him if he'd ever been to the beach.

“Not here, no, but in Japan.”

You were surprised. “Really? With a girlfriend or something?”

“No, Mokuba. My little brother.”

You wondered what sort of relationship he had with his little brother. You'd never met the kid, but he'd sounded pretty cute. As a child, you assumed that Kaiba was probably a bit of a brat, Mokuba didn't sound like that.

Then again they could be exactly alike. One conversation over the phone really wasn't enough to go by. “How old is your brother?”

“Sixteen.”

“Really? So there's a pretty big difference between your ages then.” Not that you were surprised. Mokuba did sound like he was fairly young so you were actually a little surprised that he was that old.

“Just five years.”

That caught you by surprise. You... hadn't realized he was quite that young. Yes, you thought he was somewhere in that ballpark age-wise, but you'd been hoping that he was actually older than you thought. Mostly because he ran his own company. You didn't think anyone that important in the business world had a right to be quite that young.

It was too late now.

“So are the two of you close?” you asked as you got into your car.

“He's the only family I have.”

You wondered exactly what he meant by that. It sounded like his parents weren't alive, but you didn't want to pry and his tone implied that he didn't want to think about it. You almost wanted to take advantage of the internet and look him up, but that felt too invasive.

The drive over to the beach was quiet, and you let yourself enjoy the lack of snark. Kaiba had to ruin it the moment you arrived in Venice.

“There's too many people.”

“Seriously?” You waved your arm in the direction of the ocean. “You've got this great view and the first thing you say is, 'There's too many people'? Well aren't you Miss. Debbie Downer.”

“What the hell?”

You started giggling. He looked vaguely insulted, and you realized that he probably had no idea what 'Debbie Downer' meant. You wondered how often he didn't understand something? Based on how easy it was to figure out when your slang threw him through a loop, he probably wasn't used to the feeling. If he were, he'd be better at hiding it like all his other emotions.

“It just means you're a negative person.” You grabbed his hand. “Let's walk around.”

You mostly felt like you were dragging him down the street. He apparently wasn't used to being surrounded by so many people. His eyes kept shifting between the lobster-red tourists, the people performing on the sidewalk, and the random homeless people. Dressed as he was in boardshorts and a basic button-up nobody even spared him a second glance. Well, almost nobody, he still got appreciative looks from some of the women but they all looked away the moment you caught them.

Then you spotted one of the signs with the distinctive green plant, and you couldn't stop yourself from smirking. You pulled Kaiba closer to the shops as you walked toward the building below the sign. As the two of you approached the building, a guy stepped in front of you.

“The doctor is IN.” He did a weird shimmy with his shoulders. “Come get lee-gul-ized.”

You could tell that the guy was already high, and you were totally used to these people. Kaiba was not.

“I'm not sick. Move.” His irritation with people in general won out, and you could tell that Kaiba was simply assuming that the guy was just too stupid to be comprehensible.

“You don't HAVE to be.” The guy winked at Kaiba, and you just started laughing. You couldn't help it.

You were still laughing as Kaiba dragged you forward and shoved past the guy. Of course the dude was too stoned to care, he just moved on to telling other people they could get legalized. Kaiba was really the only one annoyed.

“What is so funny?”

His harsh tone implied that he totally knew that you were laughing at him. “Dude, he wasn't asking you to actually see a doctor. He was trying to sell you,” you held up your free hand and made an air quotation, “ _legal_  weed.”

“What?” he snapped.

You secretly loved his confused face. He was narrowing his eyes at you, probably convinced that you were just messing with him again, but his glare was slightly softened by his discomfort at not knowing exactly what you were saying. It was starting to amuse you.

“Pot? Marijuana? Drugs?”

“That's not legal.”

Trust him to know the laws of a foreign country. “Don't ask me how they get away with it, but there's more weed on this beach than in a college dorm. Oooooh, come look at this!” You directed his attention over to the gym.

“That's the gym. Mostly it's just guys posturing for all the girls in bikinis.” You tugged on the sleeve of his shirt as two muscular and shirtless guys walked into the gym. “But see! You totally could be walking around shirtless.”

“I'll pass.”

It was worth a shot.

Suddenly a guy was right in front of the two of you. “Dude, you got a pretty lady right there! You better appreciate her!” He wagged a finger at Kaiba and then stumbled away.

You just blinked, completely floored at how random that had been. Then you slapped your hand to your face to cover your giggles.

“What the fuck?” Kaiba was looking after the man with complete distaste. “Where the hell are we?”

You were still giggling at the man, who was almost certainly drunk, in the middle of the day. “The Twilight Zone?” You tried to stay expressionless but failed horribly.

Kaiba was not amused. Oh well, at least you amused yourself.

His hand untangled itself from yours. “Time to leave.”

“Wait, no!” You grabbed at his arm. “Let's grab some lunch and sit by the ocean? There's no weirdos on the actual beach I promise.”

He was unconvinced. “Please?” you asked like that would change something.

“We can get lunch elsewhere.”

“But there's a really good Mexican place here.”

“No.”

It suddenly occurred to you that you didn't even have to convince him. “Well I guess it sucks that I'm the ones with the keys to the car then?” You turned and began walking in the direction of the Mexican place. You wanted to look back and make sure he was following you, but you didn't. It would be his own damn problem if he got lost since you weren't working for him today.

He did end up following you, grudgingly, and he was probably thinking nasty thoughts about you the entire time. At the restaurant, he decided to be petulant and unwilling to order anything.

“Seriously? Nothing looks appealing to you?”

“I've never had any of this.” He was apparently under the impression that if he didn't know about it then it wasn't worth eating. Snob.

Well Kaiba might not be adventurous enough to eat new food but that wasn't going to stop you from eating what you wanted. You ordered two tacos and then promptly started to load them down with hot sauce.

“That looks disgusting.”

You weren't at all surprised to find him looking at your extra spicy tacos with disgust. “Want a bite?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You don't know what you're missing out on.” You took a bite, doing your best to let your enjoyment show. You should probably find somewhere with food that he'd actually eat, but you were going to torment him a little for being difficult.

He followed behind you as you walked out of the little restaurant and back onto the street.

“Don't you want to sit down and eat?”

“No.” You were perfectly ok with eating as you walked. It was normal city behavior so you couldn't help but want to tease him. “Just because you can't eat and walk at the same time doesn't mean that I can't.”

He glared, but it didn't have the force of his usual glares.

“What about–oh crap!” You'd just dropped some hot sauce onto your shirt. Just great.

Kaiba smirked. “You can walk and eat at the same time?”

“Shut up.” You didn't want to walk around with a stain all day. There was only one clear option. “Hold this.” You shoved your last taco at him before pulling off your shirt. You folded the shirt and shoved it into your bag. You were going to have to wash it later tonight. You tried to take your taco back from Kaiba, but he had a pretty firm grip on it and his eyes were firmly located on your chest.

“You're just going to walk around shirtless?”

He was flustered. Well, as close to flustered as he probably got. Actually, it was probably closer to disgruntled that you'd just walk around shirtless in a public space.

Whatever. “It's not like I'm the only one in shorts and a bikini top. Besides, I don't have another shirt.” You rolled your eyes and focused on wrestling your taco back from him.

Once you finished your taco, you threw away your napkins and the container in a trashcan and discovered that Kaiba was unbuttoning his shirt. You really wanted to make a joke about it, but you also wanted the shirt to come off. So you watched curiously as he unbuttoned it and shrugged out of it.

Then it was thrown over your shoulders. “Put that on.”

You put your arms through the sleeves but left it completely unbuttoned. You grinned mischievously before continuing down the street.

“Button it up,” he demanded.

You ignored him. “Why should I?”

He grabbed you and dragged you into the space between two buildings. He pressed you up against a graffitied wall before grabbing the bottom of the shirt. “Because I say so.” He kissed you, and as you felt him start to button up the shirt, you realized that he was distracting you so he could get what he wanted.

Well, if he was going to distract you like this, he could have anything he wanted. You wrapped an arm around his neck and began kissing him back with just as much passion. He buttoned the shirt up partway before he got distracted as well and his hand roamed down to your lower back.

Soon he was kissing your neck and one of your legs was rubbing against the back of his. He pulled away abruptly and dangled your keys in front of your face.

"Time to leave."

"Motherfucker!" He'd totally pulled the wool over your head.

He stared at you, surprise showing. "That was new."

"Well I'm not working right now... and you totally suck." You were sullen. Your day of making Kaiba uncomfortable was totally over.

"Pick somewhere appropriate for dinner," he demanded once the two of you were back in the car.

...Maybe the day wasn't over quite yet.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of this is actually important... but for those of you who may be interested in inspiration type things:
> 
> So Venice Beach is not my favorite beach simply because there's so many people on that beach. Like a ridiculous amount. Most of the time when I go to the beach I either go to Santa Monica (because there's lots of shopping/parking across the street and it's so close to UCLA) or I go to Newport and drive along Pacific Coast Hwy until I find a relatively empty parking lot. (And recently I've been spending some time at beaches in San Diego because that's where my boyfriend's family is located.) 
> 
> Anyway, a lot of the events in this update were totally taken from personal experience. Obviously they didn't turn out like that in real life because I totally don't go to Venice with Seto Kaiba (because, let's be real, if I had a Seto Kaiba you guys would never get updates) but some of the stuff has happened. There are a lot of weed shops along Venice, and there are high people outside the shop who try to get you to come inside.  
> "Come get leeGALized!" and "The doctor is IN!" are things I've heard them say while they trip over their own two feet. They've also offered up free brownies. ;D 
> 
> Drunk dude who told Kaiba he had a "pretty lady"? Also a real person. Some guy just kind of stumbled in front of one of my male friends and basically told him to appreciate me before walking off. It was awkwardly ridiculous and the guy and I both started laughing.  
> Same male friend was actually the one who inspired the "Twilight Zone" comment. Stretches of Venice Beach are very similar to each other. (You see weed shops like every block as well as touristy shops that sell the same "I heart CA" stuff.) It gets a little repetitive and once he started joking with me that we'd ended up in some sort of time/space loop. It didn't help that at some point we picked up a homeless guy in a tinfoil hat who followed behind me repeating some word that I'd said while we were arguing about the "loop". (I forget what it was.)
> 
> Let's see, another note, I had Kaiba wearing boxers early in the chapter which made me think I should totally grab a bunch of the Kaiba writers and have like a boxers vs. briefs debate. xD I can't honestly SEE him in briefs but looking at how tight his pants are... I think he'd have to wear briefs?  
> Oh well, I went with boxers because briefs + Kaiba is an awkward image to compute.


End file.
